That Only He Can Bring
“There’s been a rose bush in your life and the thorns have seemed extravagant in nature, even larger than the flowers and the bush. You’ve thought about even completely digging it up or abandoning it. But the Holy Spirit is bringing a supernatural ability to be close to the thorns and not be harmed. That you would be like the 3 men in the fire and not be burned. For beauty was always there, the danger just kept you fearful of the embrace. He’s bringing restoration and more beauty back into your life.”
These are the words that I felt the Holy Spirit say to me as I penned them this past summer at Youth for the Nations where we took our students for camp.
That week, missions began stirring heavily in my heart again. Not knowing how or when I only knew that God was moving me.
And when God stirs, it’s time to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
So I began the trek towards what I didn’t know would be Roatan, Honduras.
All I felt was pain from the opportunities of the past constantly being taken from my grasp.
So I dug into the Word and His promises because my feelings were so heavy and easily able to mislead.
As I sat on the porch in Roatan this past week, my Bible opened to the piece of paper where I had written what the Lord said to me back in July. I just cried, recognizing how “He who started a good work will complete it.”
And in this place of utter gratitude, I was marked, again, by the way, He has been writing my story and how waiting upon the Lord can look different but is always the same.
“For my trust is in you Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth.”
So much more than an experience for the singular, I have been increasingly marked by how every moment He touches has a plural effect.
This walking and going and being has resulted in a doing mustered by a confidence that only He can bring out of lack.
I’m honored to be a part of His kingdom, one that says “Greater am I that’s within you, than he who’s in the world.”
So I put up an altar, one of remembrance and this is my altar, translating my thoughts to words no matter how vague it may seem to the reader.
Yet, “I will shout to the Lord with a voice of triumph.” From everlasting to everlasting, He is a moving, yet immovable God.
