Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”
There are a lot of changes going on in my life right now and when change comes, it has a way of making me feel extremely uncomfortable. It is during these seasons, in the midst of the winds of change, that I enter in to His throne room to pray even more than I ever have before. In my prayer time, when I come before the Lord, I continually lay my concerns, my fears, my burdens and my worries at His feet, but there is an age old question that seems to always come from my lips, “what do you want me to do, Lord?” He never seems to give me a direct answer to this question, but I feel a lot better when asking it, knowing that He is listening, that He cares about every little detail and that He is sovereignly in control of all that is occurring in my seemingly insignificant whirlwind of events. The most difficult task for me in buckling down and weathering the windstorm of change that ultimately shifts and shapes my life is being at peace with the unknown aftermath that will occur and, of course, maintaining a right heart, a godly attitude and obedient conduct in the midst of each windy gale. I know that change is good, and my Lord always brings a fresh new season, but when it touches every single area of my life, I seem to get a pit in my stomach where a knot of fear just sits and I am the kind of person that feels like I need to do something, and that is where I get into trouble.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The enemy is constantly whispering lies into my ear in the midst of uncertainty, and he can dramatically affect what I believe about myself in these seasons of uncertainty, “you are not good enough,” “you are a failure,” “you don’t really belong,” and on and on it goes. Sometimes I feel like I am just surviving and weathering the winds of change and God seems so distant that I may begin to believe that He has forgotten about me. But that is the furthest thing from the truth. The reality is He is right here with me, cheering me on, wooing me to Him, taking incredible delight in me and drawing me near to Him with His gentle songs of deliverance when I am afraid of the storms of change that are deliberately whipping around me. I have come to a place where I realize that at this moment in time, I must be on my knees, seeking the Lord, searching for His plan for me, petitioning Him to show me what to do, where to go and then, I must wait for His direction.
I don’t want to just do something just because this is what I’ve always done; I don’t want to go somewhere, just because that is where I’ve always gone; I want nothing less than God’s best for me in every single area of my life. Every time I get ahead of my Lord, when I make choices that are contrary to His perfect and divine will for me, I am carrying out my own plans, my own agenda and usually the reason why I’m doing what I am doing is because of my own shame, my own guilt and my own fear. When I make decisions based on these emotions that seem to want to drive me, I miss out on His perfect plan for me, His divine purpose for me’ and I don’t want anything less than His will for me in my life. So I will stay the course; I will keep my eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfector of my faith; I will walk in obedience to Him, I will love Him with all of my heart, all of my soul and all of my mind and when the winds of change gently bring me to the next destination, He will be there, waiting there for me to greet me with open arms, telling me how valuable I am to Him, showing me how much He loves me, revealing to me that He was there guiding me all along and then I will be still and I will wait for Him to show me the next indicated step. I will be at peace because of who He is, I will see His power, His might, His protection and His provision being orchestrated in the midst of every detail and no matter where I am, I will always be home.
-- Melody
