Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. ~ Proverbs 3:6-7
For several days, the chorus from a contemporary song, Still, was stuck in my mind. The lyrics are a reminder that the Lord is at work in ways I can’t even see: He’s parting waters, making a way, and moving mountains.
Since the words were non-stop in my brain, I got still and pondered my mountains. I had been staring at them for almost 7 years. While the climate in the workplace had improved, I was weary from the battles in the valley. I would be delighted if the Lord moved my mountains. Instead, I asked the Lord to move me. I had reached the point of total surrender.
Here I am, Lord. Send me. (Isaiah 6:8)
Three days later, I got a phone call about an administrator job opening with a different company. Administration is my spiritual gift and passion. I quietly sent my resume and waited expectantly in my watchtower. Over the next several weeks, my quiet time Bible reading, Pastor’s sermons, and Sunday school class lessons paralleled my circumstance.
This job opportunity came unexpectedly.
“Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19).
As I read the verses, I noticed a note I had jotted in the column back in 2010: God will make a way where there seems to be no way.
I did want a change; I had wanted a change for a very long time. I remembered one of my desperate-to-leave moments and how the Lord put Isaiah 52:12 in front of me.
"But you will not go out in haste, nor will you go as fugitives; For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. "
No matter how much I wanted it, I did not want to rush ahead of the Lord.
Initial contact with the project manager was encouraging. Cautious by nature, I wanted to make sure this was the Lord’s doing, not me trying to make it happen.
Then on Sunday morning I woke up before my alarm. I felt prompted to read referenced Scripture from recent sermon notes. My heart quickened.
"For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey (Deuteronomy 8:7-9)."
I wanted to be careful to not take things out of context. At the same time, I wanted to be acutely aware of His confirmation. In my finite mind, I sensed I was to go. It was the Lord bringing me into a new land.
In Sunday school, our lesson that morning was from Matthew 28 and Jesus’ instruction for us to go and make disciples. The object lesson was a hand-cut circle with the word GO written boldly in the center.
Here I am, Lord. Send me!
I held the GO-circle my hand; I sensed my mission field was changing: I was to go.
Additional confirmation came when the teacher pointed out that the Lord took the disciples back to the very place His ministry had started in Galilee. While I was saved as a child, I didn’t start walking in obedience until after my divorce 23 years earlier. This job was back in the very same building where my true faith walk began.
Then the sermon was from Joshua: crossing the Jordon into the victorious, spirit-filled life. It was only after the priests stepped into the waters – waters that were overflowing their banks - did the Lord part the waters of the Jordon. God dried up the waters of the Jordon and the people crossed over. (Joshua 4:23).
Was I willing to step in the water, in obedience and get my feet wet? Only then did I see my handwritten note beside the verse: God makes a way!
Here I am, Lord. Send me.
Seven years to the very day that I accepted my current job offer, I was offered the administrator position. The Lord has opened this door, an opportunity that is exceedingly abundantly more than I can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
As promised in Proverbs 3:6-7, He has made His way known to me.
Now I shall go.
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