Letting Go to Rebuild
On the high school retreat last weekend, the speaker was talking about letting go. What can you let go of, so that God can use it to further His Kingdom? For example, he spoke of the staff that Moses had, that God turned into a snake. By itself, the staff was just a staff. But Moses had to let go of it, so that God could use it to turn it into a snake. What is God calling you to give into His hands?
For me, it is our past. Not that we are to forget about it, but we have to continue to let God rebuild. Rebuild what was crumbled. Rebuild after the damage. Rebuild after loss.
At the time, because there was so much loss last September, I don’t think we really knew what hit us. I don’t think we knew where to even begin. Rebuilding seemed uncertain – we questioned whether we were equipped to be in youth ministry after some of the things we were told. As piercing and as damaging as some of the comments were, we knew God’s call in our life – youth ministry. We knew that God was using our past experiences to take us out of a harsh situation and bring us into new “life” – into a new setting. Starting over, was what we needed.
The rebuilding phase is not easy, but it has been worth it. One thing I have been convicted of, is to continue to move forward. It is so hard to know what that looks like. We walk blindly and in faith – we walk trusting that God has us in the palm of His hand. This is uncharted territory for us, but we are learning to walk confidently. It is hard to move forward in life with the experiences we have in our past. How do you live everyday, with the hardships just a few miles back? It is so easy to keep looking back over that road, wondering what happened and questioning “did that really just happen?” It did. We have memories of that road that will always be with us – but God has a much LONGER road ahead of us and He wants us to keep looking forward.
I think of that with children. We will never forget, but we can continue to drive forward. What does that look like? We are still figuring that out. We do believe that God has a road for us that is part of the book He has written for our lives. To think that HE is the author of our life (not us), is humbling and comforting. To think that He knows our past (the road behind us), yet also knows the road ahead, and He is weaving it all together to make one life’s journey, takes incredible faith. Faith that I falter in at times. It is hard to trust an unknown road – but if I continue to allow God to drive us down that road, we are safely in His arms.
Letting go of our past and laying it before God. Hard to do. Easier said than done. With that said, as Dan and I continue to lay it in God’s hands, we are seeing ways in which He is using our past AND our future, for His Kingdom. We just have to allow Him to work – to rebuild.
What do you need to let go of so that God can use it for HIS glory? What are you holding onto, too tightly? What is God asking you to lay down?
Let God help you rebuild. Let Him be the driver down your life’s road.
