I am a creative person, sometimes to a fault. I live and dream big, sometimes too big. Those who know and love me the most will tell you that they have spent most of their life keeping me from floating away or falling off a cliff (that one was a little bit too literal...I owe you one, Holly!). My whole life has been a process of casting myself out upon the waters and being reeled back in, because it just wasn’t the right time to be fishing.
I have always known God as my rock who grounded me, my fortress who kept me safe, and my shepherd who keeps me from straying. Those are all true and good things. God used the loved ones in my life to remind me to stay, stop, wait, and slow down. Those are wise words for a person like me.
Slowly and painfully, I learned to quiet my restless heart, create the extraordinary out of the ordinary, and plant my wandering feet firmly on the ground. It took some questioning tears, but I placed that crazy adventuring go-go spirit at the feet of my King.
One day, God did something totally out of His character (as I knew Him) that absolutely rocked my world. He told me to GO, complete with a green light, blinking arrow, gunshot, waving flags. That word, “Go” has never applied to me before. When I looked down at my feet, I was standing on top of a starting line. When I looked back at my family, they were madly cheering and waving signs in the stands. A few weeks later, I was on a plane to Chicago to attend an orientation to prepare me to move to the other side of the world and serve God through teaching and other ministry.
Even though I generally take flight at any opportunity, I did start out with a few conditions for my going and doing. Even the greatest adventurer has a comfort zone. Lord, I’ll go to the ends of the earth, except Asia really wouldn’t be my cup of tea. I will love and teach whatever students you place in my path, but high school would not be preferable. I will share my passion for art, although I really have no interest in using that graphic design background You gave me.
So, naturally, God sent me to Southeast Asia to be a high school graphic design teacher and minister to the people of Thailand.
It has been the best adventure of my life. I can say with full confidence, even on the harder days, that I was made to do this...and I almost completely missed it in the pursuit of breathing my own meaningless adventures to life. My Lord designed bigger plans than I could ever hope to dream up. He knows me better than I know myself, and He believes in me more than I believe in myself. Did I really expect anything less? I think I almost did.
I didn’t realize that God shared my youthful, passionate heart of adventure, a quest for something more. I didn’t realize that He would have such a big plan for such a insignificant single 20-something woman.
I didn’t realize that God loves those little creative touches that mean so much to me. He put me in a place with waterfalls, mountains, elephants, exotic fruit, coffee shops, flower markets, massages and pedicures, fruit smoothies, markets full of art...things that inspire me, breathe life into my soul, and make my catch my breath. Everyday, I feel unworthy of it.
If you were born with a heart of an adventurer, someone whose heart is driven by a spark of adrenaline, a spirit that blooms when challenged, a desire to see the world through a new lens, then know that it is God who has instilled that heart within you, and it is good. It is a gift. But, as with all gifts, it needs to be trained and ultimately surrendered back into the hand of the God who gave it to you. Come to a place where God can give you His dreams.
From adventurer to fellow adventurer, I beg you to not miss out on surrendering your dreams and plans to God, for fear that His plans are not exciting enough or will not be big enough adventure.
Oh, adventurous soul, what are you on the brink of almost missing?
You have almost missed the very adventure that you soul most desires, the one you have been searching for. Stir up those adventurous strands of DNA and let it propel you towards God’s Kingdom. I promise you, He has better plans than you do, in every way. Leave the life you cling so fiercely to, that life that is soon to be cluttered full of useless wanderlust posters. That is something your adventurous soul will never regret.
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