I want to hurry up and get a section together because it helps me put the next section in place. But piece by piece, as each issue comes up in my life, I sense God's beckoning to trust:
Trust.
Trust that God is good.
Trust that God cares.
Trust that God is able.
Trust that God wants to lead and is leading me.
Trust that the pieces in my hand make sense to Him, even when they are jumbled and overwhelming to me.
Unlike our dorm's 1,000 piece puzzle, I do not need to strain my eyes and labor to perceive where to place one specific piece, a step or a decision about next year. Recording artist and storyteller, Jason Gray, captures the reality that I am poignantly grappling with these days: "No Thief Like Fear" by Jason Gray (click to listen). Although I am tired and confused about various things as I seek to faithfully serve in the dorm for my fourth semester as well as prepare to be married and transition in August, my anxious heart is challenged by the reality that "there is no thief like fear." As I seek God, regardless of whether or not I feel clarity in certain pieces, I am free, ironically.
This week Ryan came to talk to me. Ryan, a senior at another boys dorm, is a deep thinker and fellow song-writer and musician. His dad is a lead pastor in France. He comes after school to hang out with some of my dorm guys. Yet, he is always intentional to come talk to me about things he is processing about life, love, and faith. After last time we talked, I recommended that he read Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung, which greatly shaped my current perspective on seeking God's will in life and decisions. Ryan is seeking genuine faith and is turned off by what he feels is performance-based Christianity. Since my guys respect Ryan, when we talk my guys eavesdrop and seem to ponder what we discuss.
----> Pray with me that as Ryan continues to seek the true God, may he voice his questions to God's "face" as he draws near to God, rather to him "back" as he walks away. May his searching of authentic faith also draw my guys to Jesus as well.
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."
