It is June. Not quite sure how I got here, but hey I am here in the 7th day already. Quite a few things have happened since I last posted…a quick update….the trip to Nepal was…eye opening. :) And had some great moments too…really glad I had the chance to go. Also, my Mother finally got moved to Virginia! She has bought a house already and we move her in Wednesday! So thankful to have her here.
The latest and hardest thing for me right now is, my dear friend has moved. We have been doing ministry together for the past 8 years, and she finally moved away yesterday, to be near family. It has been a hard thing for me to just release her and be ok with all the change that has happened and I found myself really struggling with sadness yesterday.
That is why this next part I am going to tell you is SO cool, because my God is ridiculously amazing and is in ALL the details and He shows me all the time that He is!! I just have to share this with you!
So…my friend and I started the Beth Moore study; Children of the Day. It’s the study on 1 & 2 Thessalonians. We have talked about doing it for quite some time, but we just now have gotten around to starting it.
So we started watching the 1st video today…and Beth has to set up the whole context on how we find Paul, Silas, and Timothy in Thessalonians, so she goes back to the very beginning on how they all met in Acts.
So she is referencing, how Paul and Barnabas were together and were inseparable and did ministry together and were just very very close…Acts 15:36-16:5….in acts 15:39-41 she is elaborating on how they had a huge disagreement so much so that it separated the two of them. (Sad huh?) And it says that barnabas sailed off with John Mark (who is his cousin), and Paul went off with Silas…(and then later she talks about in Acts 16 how Timothy came into the picture)…..but this is where I want to stop; with the Paul and Barnabas situation….Beth started talking about how sometimes in ministry we have disagreements and they split us up, split church up, split marriages up….but sometimes it is not this big blow up, maybe it is a friend moving away…..!!! She literally said that!! Maybe it’s a friend moving away!!! Here come the water works! I instantly start crying. She said, sometimes we are so upset by an unwelcomed situation (for me, my friend moving), that we NEVER EMBRACE THE NEW ONE. *cry fest*
Then she keeps on saying that because of the situation with Paul & Barnabas and their parting, it allowed the Holy Spirit to birth something brand new…She was saying you don’t know, but maybe the next person you meet because of this parting could become one of the dearest people in our lives. She said that this open wound Paul had wasn’t filled back up with one person, it was filled by two men (Silas & Timothy)…and that sometimes God mixes things up for us & makes things happen on PURPOSE because the renewal we need to keep going deeper is in the “remix.” (She was calling this change up, or this unwelcomed situation a “remix” haha)
She said we are not meant to stay the same, and God allows these situations for a reason…..and if we stay where we are he can’t get us to the place he needs us to go…She also said, if you are in this season of change, you are on the next path God has for you in this remix……I could not stop the tears. She even said, you can be angry in the unwelcomed situation or you can embrace it; open up your heart to it and live boldly in it….and yesterday I was just getting mad. I didn’t want my friend to move, I don’t want change. I don’t want to have to open up to different people….I want it to stay the same. Crying crying crying….one big ball of emotions am I.
Then she went on to say the kicker, “God will put us to flight, if we let Him.”
And I knew this was specifically for me---sure this stinks….bad. I don’t want this; I want to be with my ministry partner. I want to remain the same and not have to get out there and open up more to other people. To have to be vulnerable and have to relearn someone’s personality & build trust again…..That does NOT sound fun, but to NOT embrace this new season I am in would be robbing God of moving in my life. It is also going to rob me of some of the richest women to women relationships, if I don’t embrace it.
I think I was supposed to hear this message so that I would let the past go…and to look forward. Not forgetting the past, but to EMBRACE the new season…..as much as I want to dig my heels in and say no!! I need my friend! It was so clearly God speaking to me this morning…just even the timing of starting the study, and the words she was saying….the situation I find myself in, is sad….but it’s not forever and I know I will always remain in contact with my friend, but I just felt like it was God saying all this so specifically to me. It was as if He was saying, “Ok Janna, its time….let me put you to flight”…..and I couldn’t stop crying. And still am crying.
So where ever you find yourself, whatever situation you are in….this is your time, our time to take flight…to take what we have learned over the years & start giving back. To be BRAVE and to be BOLD in where God has you and harness it for his Kingdom. He will put us to flight…if we let Him.
xoxo
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