Change in seasons

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:35-38)

The above scripture is how we started the youth leadership movement meeting today. Every week we start by having a devotion as well as praying. This week has probably been one of the hardest weeks that I have had since being in Texas. I have found myself homesick and longing for something more. However, don’t get me wrong, I love the organization I am working with and those that I work with but I sense something missing.

Being homesick doesn’t necessarily mean that you are missing your home but it’s a feeling of “missing what's normal, what is routine, the larger sense of social space, because those are the things that help us survive.” With the way that I have been feeling lately I was reminded of things today through this scripture. I was reminded that I am longing for a deeper relationship with Christ. I don’t have a Church family in Texas right now even though there is one church that I attend weekly. I am still in search of the church that I will be able to connect with and grow in Christ with. I was also reminded that I need to be spending more time with Christ. This is one of my learning goals to get back into having a quiet time or devotional each day but it’s easy to get caught up in what’s going on and not take time to have a devotion.

I have also found myself wondering why it is that I am here. When things are slow and when I don’t quiet understand, I wonder why God brought me here of all places. Why did my plans not work out? Why did I have to leave everything behind and get away? This scripture says that Jesus left where everyone knew him. The people were looking for Him but he didn’t want to deal with them. He wanted to go to another place to preach to word of Christ. I feel like I am in that point of my life right now. I could have remained in Indiana and did ministry, I could have looked more into InterVarsity, but God has other plans for me. He called me to leave behind what I knew for something that I didn’t know. He called me to leave my family to come to Texas where I would get to know a new “family”. He called me to leave my churches back in Indiana to come speak with other churches. Yeah, this wasn’t my plan but it is God’s plan.

I am needing to take more time to connect with Christ in order to truly see where He is leading me and what it is that He is wanting me to do. He will be able to answer my questions but it takes a relationship first and listening (as well as patience, which I am not good at) to get those answers. As we talked about in the devotion today, God may be calling us away from the thing that we are doing in this point in our lives and asking or trying to get us to do something else. We need to transition and follow God’s prompting. That’s what I have had to do with coming to Texas, partnering with the General Board of Global Ministries, and working at the Dallas Leadership Foundation. God called me out of the season of my life that I had in Indiana and called me into a new season. That’s scary but I am thankful that I have some amazing people to walk through this season of life with and learn from and work with.

The last part of that scripture says “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”  But here is the thing to think about. Take that part of scripture and say this to yourself… “Let us go somewhere else-to ___________-so I can ____________ there also. That is why I have come” Complete the above phrase and put something in those blanks… What is it for you that need to be in those blanks? For me, I would have to say, “Let us go somewhere else-to Texas-so I can serve Christ and others there also” However, there are other things that I could put in the blank as well, that is just the more apparent response. God is trying to get each of us to do something, to enter into a new season of our lives, etc we just need to take the time to listen to Him and follow His guidance. Entering into new seasons of our lives is not easy but with God, things will work out even if we don’t have all the answers and don’t know where things will take us. Start that relationship with God now and start talking to Him about what it is that He has for your life and what belongs in the above blanks.

The seasons have changed, it is now fall so won't you let the season of your life change as well and listen to what God has for you?