Yesterday I sat with two friends sharing some highlights from our collective journeys with God with a few hundred people. The days leading up to our time were stressful and chaotic. We worked at preparing our approach but nothing seemed to glue to stick together. The day before the presentation, we stopped trying to plan and began by sharing stories of God working in our lives.
I caught a glimpse of what God wants us to do! We are not walking through life as lonely fighters on solo. We are children with the same father facing an adversary who is strong and relentless. We often think that our journeys are unique, that our experiences with God do not and could not make sense to anyone else, and that unless we toughen up and buckle down, we will never survive. I believe these assumptions are totally and absolutely wrong!
We are so different. First, a young man from a traditional English background who discovered a sense of God’s love through worship as a teen and in fearful steps continues a journey with Him. Second, a woman who gave up her professional career and party life in Zimbabwe to respond to God’s call to be a wife, mother, and bearer or the gospel in a small London community. And finally, a corporate man who strives to be an artist and tender of God’s trees. We do not talk the same language, we walk in very different circumstances, and our fears, uncertainties, and doubts are many.
Our journeys are as similar as they are different. We see ourselves as ordinary people with weaknesses who are out to change the world. Who we are horrifies us. God’s love, grace, and unconditional acceptance overwhelm us. We passionately want God to permeate every part of life. We all understand that “what the law code [God] asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.” (Romans 8.4)
God is doing stuff, in us and in you.
