By Michal Gregory 2.16.2020
Two weeks ago, I packed everything Alex and I owned into our 2006 Chrysler Pacifica, including our 70lb dog, and drove 20 hours straight to Colorado.
This is not the first time I have packed up my life in a car and moved across the country on my own. In fact, it is my third.
Here are three things I have learned each time God has literally ripped up my roots and planted them elsewhere.
First, it can be terrifying. But it needs to be to teach you that even in uncertainty God is good and present.
When you go out on a real limb, take an actual risk, and place yourself in a situation where only God can get you out, you open the curtains for Him to come in and do what only He can do.
You can not pray for a deep water rescue in your life while your still swimming in the shallow end. For big prayers, you need big faith.
Usually when God opens a door, he does just that. It is clear and wide open. We hear that all the time, and we pray for it all the time. I have probably said, “God, please open a door” about twice a day for three years.
But what most people fail to follow up on, is what happens once you walk through that door. Honestly, this is something I wished people talked about more! No one tells you that sometimes you walk into an empty room.
Uh-oh.
Most of the time, the next step is still unknown. There is no detailed itinerary of the whole plan, just one step at a time.
At lot of us get stuck (myself included) because we refuse to move until we see the whole staircase and know the whole plan. We want to know how it ends before deciding if that is where we want to go. So we stay put, even though there are blessings waiting for us up the road.
You have to keep taking the next step as it comes.
This blog post would be so much easier to write a few months from now, when all my concerns have been addressed.
Due to work situations, Alex won’t join me in the Rockies until the second week of March.
So that means I am alone, currently unemployed, living off of our savings (which is almost entirely tied up in our townhouse), and trying to decide what direction to steer my career in.
Not the most comfortable place to be in. I have legitimate real-life concerns. Things like, how will I pay for gas and groceries?
But time and time again, I have learned when my back is up against the wall, I am met with beautiful provision and comfort.
It is not about my circumstances, stressful as they may be. It is about how far He is willing to go to make it clear to me that He wants and will do amazing things in my life.
He wants to do the same in your life, too. You do not have to pack up and move on a whim to see Him do just that.
Second, I have learned that when you travel far, you travel light. If God is going to take you to a new place, you can not carry everything you own. The baggage you are dragging will be too heavy to bring to your promise land.
The poor habits, the fears, the heart alignments need to stay back. There is no room for them where you are headed.
Because if you bring them with you, you will geographically be in a different place, but emotionally and spiritually stuck. You may be out from where you came from, but you will still be lost.
When God moves you, it is a perfect opportunity for spring cleaning. Physically and spiritually.
Before I moved, I went through every inch of our apartment and did a rigorous cleaning. If the item was not going to serve me in Colorado, it stayed in Indiana.
And there were a few things that were really hard to part with. But I know what I am choosing to leave behind, is nothing compared to what the future holds.
It is so important to do this with our hearts. We should regularly be examining our hearts, intentions, and actions. We should be asking ourselves, is this getting me closer to where I am called to go, or is this dead weight?
If it is something that is taking up space, causing clutter, and keeping you from developing your character, let it go.
The beautiful thing about traveling light, is that it creates space for God to fill with new things. Good things.
Each time I have moved, I have left behind physical belongings and emotional habits that were hard to let go. But each time, in their absence, it was filled with something more beautiful.
By riding of the clutter you are making space for God to come in and do a stunning transformation. Our hearts can always use a face-lift.
Lastly, not all goodbyes are created equal. Sometimes goodbyes are hard, and sometimes you slip away without anyone noticing. I have had both. I have left seasons of my life that broke my heart to leave, and seasons where no one felt the weight of my absence.
In such cases, when you are leaving where you were never welcomed, shake the dust off your feet, and go. Even if you have to go alone; there are worse things then solitude.
If God has called you to move physically or spiritually and you do not know what the next step is, here are words that I want you to write over and over on your heart.
God directs your steps. The baby steps, and the life changing leaps. He knows what is around the corner, and He guides his sheep.
If you are lost you need to know that He will leave the 99 to find the ONE that is missing. Take serious comfort in knowing He goes on rescue missions.
You won’t be lost for long.
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