Be Where Your Feet Are

This is for whoever's heart is longing to be elsewhere.

Sometimes the Lord takes us across the world and we get to encounter him in ways like never before. Sometimes the Lord even lets us fall in love with other countries and other cultures.

It's one of my absolute favorite things.

After returning from Haiti this past week, the Lord has been stirring up my spirit as I process.

I got to witness the Lord do the impossible and work out every single detail perfectly. So incredibly thankful for all my eyes got to see and all I got to do.

My spirit soared to new heights as I got to experience him in new and exciting ways.

When we return from a trip we automatically long to be back and want to feel God's overwhelming presence like we do when we travel. While there is nothing is wrong in that, Satan can so easily deceive us.

The Lord has been so gracious in teaching me that the very same God who I encountered this past week is the same God who is meeting with me right now in my bedroom in Jackson, Tennessee. That fact leaves me speechless. Our God is so vast and universal.

The Lord has been pressing the phrase "Be where your feet are" into my heart the past couple of months. We too often are wanting to be somewhere else, be with others, or doing something else. When we let ourselves fall into that trap, we are initially saying that what is in front of us is simply not enough. When we say that we are limiting not only ourselves but also limiting what God can do through us. Not only is this easy to fall into in every day life, but especially easy when we come back from a place that we left half of our heart. So what do we do? I don't have all the answers but this is just what the Lord has been telling me.

The very best thing we can do is bring before the Lord a heart full of praise and thanksgiving for all that we experienced and got to be apart of. It's incredibly hard to leave a place that we've grown attached to. How do we get back to living? How are we to move on? In all honesty, we may never fully move on. I don't think we are suppose to. We should allow ourselves to grieve the pieces of our heart that we've left behind but be quick to get back to loving those that are around us. We are not to feel guilty for missing it and wanting to go back as long as we are seeking the Lord in the place we are currently in. It's so easy to get frustrated because no one else understands what we got to experience and no matter how hard we try we can never find the words to translate it. I think that is perfectly normal and expected. May we be patient with ourselves and others as we continue to process. Keep loving all the people you got to pour into. Fervently pray for the orphanage or that village you went to. Cling tight to the sweet memories that you have of that place and carry them with you wherever you go. Recognize that words will fail you when trying to tell stories to others.  Let's allow whatever we learned to overflow into our every day lives. Maybe that means loving others more deeply. Maybe that means truly realizing how big and sovereign our God is. Maybe that means growing deeper in your relationship with Christ. Maybe that means being more persistent in sharing the gospel and being quick to pray over others. Maybe that means we stop asking ourselves who is worthy of our love and we realize the already know the answer to that. We are to love everyone, everywhere, always. It will look different for all of us, but whatever it is may we take what the Lord has shown us and let it play a part in our day to day lives.

Let's thank Jesus for what is right in front of us. Be completely and totally there.  I assure you that wherever you are right now is exactly where you are suppose to be and it is where the Lord has placed your feet. May we know that in the very depths of our souls. May we not limit our God to working and being alive in a certain country. He is all around us and working in every area of our lives. Your ministry is not only in another country, it is wherever you are right now. In the back of your mind you may know that or want to believe that but have no idea what that looks like. If that's you, I challenge you to ask the Lord. He loves it when you ask and wants nothing more than to reveal himself to you.

May the longing of our hearts not overpower what God has placed right before us. May we thank him for the time he allowed us to spend in another country or place and ask him how we may serve in the place He has us now. May we trust the Lord enough to understand that he knows our heart's desires and he will be so good in leading us back to the very place where we left our hearts in his perfect timing. Trust that. You are so needed right where you are. I promise you that. So let's lean into all that Jesus has for us in the here and now.

Maybe this post was just what you needed. Maybe it isn't. Whatever it is, I trust that the Lord is speaking right into your heart tonight.

Present

Coming out of last semester I thought my heart had seen all the heartbreak it would ever see.

I was wrong.

Heartbreak, after heartbreak. It keeps coming.

I haven't known a week while I've been in school where something absolutely heart wrenching has not happened wether it be on my campus or back at home. Not only have I experienced this but I have watched my friends walk through the hardest and trying places.

I'll be honest. A lot of it has left me speechless.

My faith has been shaken to it's core.

What if everything I have believed about God isn't true?

What if He isn't as good as I have always thought?

Is God causing these tragedies and heart break?

Why? God, Why?

I don't write this blog somehow magically having discovered the answers. The only answer I know is Jesus.

The reminder and hope of heaven has been pressed heavily into my mind this year. While there is an abundance of comfort in that and I long for that day just as much as Jesus does, I hit a wall where I needed to be reminded of exactly who Jesus is. Jesus being my everything and making good on his promises he showed me what I needed to hear.

The story of Jesus weeping over the death of Lazarus became so real to me.

Through every heartbreak, I know that Jesus was fully present and engaged. His gaze is so fixed upon us.

I don't say that because it makes me feel better or its my way of comforting myself. I say it because it is scriptural.

In John 11, Jesus knew that Lazarus was about to be raised from the dead and even though he saw the glory that was coming, he bent low and wept. In that moment he was fully human and we are able to relate with him like never before. He was present and fully in the moment. My heart can't get over that.

God is not offended or disgusted with our hurt, confused and broken hearts. He welcomes them gladly, even though he knows the good that is to come, He is right there with us. He is there in the screaming, the sobbing, the questioning, the restless nights, and in the moments when you want to give up.  He, oh HE is near so very near to the brokenhearted.

God's character does not change in midst of tragedy. He does not waver and change like the world too easily does. He is steadfast and sure. He is our faithful strength and anchor in midst of any storm. He was present in the suffering of his son and He is going to be nothing less for us in our trials.

Knowing all of these things, I will not back down or give in. I will press forward in all that the Lord would have for me. I leave it all in His hands trusting that He is making something beautiful out of me. God is still on his throne with no threat. He reigns and nothing will ever change that. So keep pressing in, friends, God is far better than anything we could ever imagine.