Messages from God

Let me set some backstory so this post makes sense: 

When I joined my current church four plus years ago, there was a pastor I really enjoyed. The way he spoke and presented the message just connected with me. Unfortunately, he was a guest/teaching pastor, and his contract has lessened over the years and he rarely speaks at our church anymore. 

I’m also faced with a new opportunity in an area I don’t have any experience in. I’m going to have to learn and understand things that I have zero experience in (maybe some parallel experience, but it’s a whole new world). In thinking about this potential new chapter, the word “intentionality” has come up over and over. We don’t accidentally make new things work. We don’t accidentally have long term success. We don’t accidentally grow.

Sometimes new things are scary. Sometimes risk is scary. Sometimes hope is scary. 

I prayed Saturday morning that God would have something for me at church this weekend. They played a new worship song that was about faith in fear. The lyrics were beautiful. But then, there is my favorite pastor! He hasn’t spoken in ages, and it was really cool to have him back on the stage. I was like, “very cool, God, thanks for this!” But then my mind was truly blown when over 10 minutes into the message, after verses and points had already been put up in the background, a giant stripe came across the screens “#1 Intentionality” – MIND. BLOWN. I was so stunned, that I didn’t have the presence of mind to snap a picture live (and I have dozens of photos of verses and points from other services). So I watched again Sunday morning to get a screenshot on my phone.

But that wasn’t the end of the messages God had for me this weekend. I was mowing my yard, jamming to Christian music, and having a text conversation about some of the caution I have in relationships because of my past. The mowing finished, the conversation continued, and as I went around the house to put back the drain spouts, I looked at the rogue grass in my side-beds differently. I had the thought “well, if they can thrive in there, I can figure my stuff out”… and it was a fleeting thought, but then my music repeated two lines and froze. Spotify wouldn’t play, wouldn’t flip songs, wouldn’t do anything. The only button working in the app was the lyrics, but it wouldn’t scroll… So I read the last thing I had heard a few times, “I don’t know how You make a way, but I know You will… “ and realized the silence and the lyrics were a nudge to think more about the grass. It hit me – I AM THE GRASS! 

A few years ago, the ground was ripped out beneath us. A layer of protection was laid down on top of that. More hard stuff kept getting dumped on top - some big things, some small things. But wouldn’t you know.. there is still life. We have found ways to grow around the hard stuff. We have found ways to stay rooted. We keep growing even though we aren’t where anybody expected us to be.  

I need to be like the grass - not worrying about the rocks and enjoying the water and sunshine without fear of when or if it will be mowed down one day.

Alas, that is where the analogy ends, though, because you’d better believe I ripped it all out by the roots, but I walked around the corner with a hopeful smile.. and wouldn’t you know it, the music started again.  Thanks, God.

Take care, friends!
XX - Langley