‘Walk With Me’ Pt 2

Hey beloved! It is always a pleasure to engage with you albeit for a few minutes, so thank you for taking the time to meet me here. Oh! and Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadians! I hope that aside from all the turkeys basted and roasted, you got to set apart intentional time reflecting on the many reasons you have to be thankful. Of course, most importantly is gratitude to God, but with that is gratitude to the vessels who have given Him their ‘yes’ and shown up fully in your life.

Those friends who have committed to loving and serving you deserve a shout out for their partnership with God to love you well on the earth. Those real ones who have committed to covering you in prayer ( btw, there are likely many who stand in the gap for you that you’re not aware of). The family, chosen or otherwise, who has cultivated a safe space for you to be vulnerable and heal without fear deserve some flowers. These amongst many are a few of the people we ought to extend our gratitude towards. You have no idea how a simple ‘Thank you’ could revive a person’s sense of purpose. Sometimes, all that is needed is a reminder that their ‘yes’ is impacting lives.

Well, with all that said and done, I am thankful for you. Yes you, reading this right now. You’ve made my assignment worth it and I’m grateful to God for you. In the spirit of thanksgiving, before we get into the post for today, I want to leave you with one of my favourite Bible verses : Ps 103:2 says “Bless the Lord O my soul; and forget not all His benefits“. My God, there is no shortage of benefits that come with the redemption and adoption Jesus Christ gives us, but the greatest of all is that He gave us Himself. It is my prayer that we never forget this so we may always maintain a posture of thanksgiving which pleases the Lord. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

~ If you didn’t already, I challenge you to write down 7 things you’re thankful for. Feel free to pause reading this blog, get your pen, grab that journal, and really cast your mind back. It is our memory that triggers thankfulness. I encourage you to make this a regular habit — document your wins, victories and blessings as you experience them. In some ways, this would be like an altar forever available to reference when life spurs on amnesia. Do the needed to remember and you’ll be so glad you did.
Okay, let’s get into the business of the day!

In my last blog post (Please take a quick moment to catch up on that here to get a clearer picture ), I spoke about how ‘Walk with me‘ was the simple instruction I received from the Lord at a time where I was seeking directives on my next steps. I had just taken a leap of faith which would offer me a lot more time on my hands (or so I thought) to do what the work I believe God has for me, and in order to maximize the season, I was hoping that the Lord would give me a clear plan, structure or strategy on how best to manage my time in this season to produce the results He wanted from me. Now to be fair, one could argue that the Lord’s response to me was a clear strategy, it just wasn’t the one I had in mind.

At the time, ‘walk with me‘ seemed like a vague, generic and impractical instruction that was somehow supposed to be “tailored” to this season — I didn’t get it… until I did. Hindsight is 20/20 isn’t it? Turns out there were some unexpected turns ahead of me that I wouldn’t be able to plan for without proximity to my ABBA. No set of instructions, plan or strategy other than the one He gave me would’ve worked for what I was about to walk into. He knew that, and that is why the instruction was simple yet succinct… All I needed to do was stay close with Him, walk with Him and He’d guide me all the way through.

Like I shared in the last post, a key lesson the Lord was teaching me is that our proximity to God is ultimately what will ensure precision. He didn’t give me a bunch of step-by-step instructions because there is no playbook when the path is full of pivots…and my goodness, the path ahead of me was. I had to rely on the Lord to help me navigate the twists and turns that were up ahead. To be entirely honest, I’m not too sure how I would have taken it if He’d let me know that this is what I was up ahead. Would I have quit prematurely? I don’t know, maybe. Do you know that scripture tells us God took the Israelites through the long road to the promised land because He knew that if they encountered a battle they might go right back to the place of their captivity(Egypt)? [Ex 13:17] Gosh, there is a whole word right there!!! Sometimes the “delay” is a process for maturity and development. So much to say on that but let me stay on topic, Lord Jesus help me. Okay, let’s get back on course…

Sometimes, the “delay” is a process for maturity and development.

So, speaking of journeying to the promised land and relying on the Lord, hundreds of years before the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, God chose Abraham and his descendants to inherit the promised land. I’m reminded of the Lord’s instruction to Abraham – “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you“[Gen 12:1]. Why didn’t God just tell Abraham upfront exactly where he would be headed? Heb 11:8 tells us that Abraham obeyed God by faith and that he went without knowing where he was going. To walk by faith requires fixation on a higher reality which can only be obtained when walking with Jesus. The level of dependency that is demanded to trust God for your next step is only forged in the furnace of faith… and that my friends brings us to the premise of today’s post. Strap your seatbelts as we go for a quick ride on which I share the latter part of my conversation with God.

To walk by faith requires fixation on a higher reality which can only be obtained when walking with Jesus.

I would like to preface this with the premise of this whole conversation I had with God – this particular time of communion with the Lord was part of a guided meditation with a spiritual sister of mine. She posed a question for me to take to the Lord – “Who does God want to be to you in this time?” Now of course, the list of who Abba is to me is endless. Matter of fact, in summary, He’s everything! But in this particular time of devotion, I sensed the Lord give me a very clear and distinct answer as I presented the question to Him. I have to say, it was another seemingly strange response yet again — I heard “Compass”. Some time ago, I had done a painting with a compass as the illustration for Isaiah 30:21 which reads “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.”“, so I knew this was about direction.

When I shared the response with my spiritual sister, she found it interesting that I heard something so specific like a compass which is hardly used today, why not a GPS? It was as though the Lord began to enlighten my mind and I suddenly knew this was no coincidence. With a GPS, you are able to zoom out and get the bigger picture. You can memorize a couple turns and streets ahead of time so you wouldn’t have to reference the device at every point in time. Yeahhh.. compasses don’t quite work like that. Remember what I was saying earlier about reliance and dependency? Needed.

There’s a reliance and dependency forged when you can’t see far ahead just yet. It is one of the key things that makes navigation with a compass different from a GPS. As you may already know, a compass is one of the older navigation tools which men relied on to get a sense of location and direction. With a quick google search I found three reasons why a compass is considered a reliable tool; one of which jumped out at me. Dr. Google said a compass is a great way to get your bearings, a dependable way to stay on track and finally(Ouuu, this one got me excitedddd!), a great tool for navigating in the wilderness even if there are obstacles in your path. My God! I am not ashamed to say that the wisdom of God excites me every time.

Using a compass for navigation requires that you continue to check your bearings to ensure that you’re going in the direction that you intend. While you can use a compass on its own to some degree, it is most effective when paired with a map. In other words, when you know your final destination but don’t know exactly how to get there, a compass is what you need. Hearing the Lord instruct me to walk with Him, and instruct us all as disciples of Christ to follow Him given that a servant of Christ must be where He is[Jn 12:26], the Spirit of God acts as a compass to help us live by the instructions of God. I reckon this is also why God did not leave us with the written word alone, but His Spirit as well to lead us into all truth.

Keeping it a buck with you, I’m very much a GPS girl and in the physical world, I think that’ll continue to be the case. That being said, I have also been in one too many situations where my GPS has failed me for reasons like poor cellular signal, no wifi, road closures unaccounted for, phone battery death or just plain old tech bugging. Clearly, I’m still standing and not in a ditch somewhere so using a GPS must offer some level of reliability. I employ the use of a GPS particularly when walking on major streets or driving on main roads and it has served me well despite the occasional hiccups. I do wonder however how this would work for the outdoor enthusiasts, adventurous hikers and backpackers who take on the conquest of trailing in remote areas[The movie ‘Wild’ comes to mind].

Having to navigate high terrains and large bodies of water does not seem like something a GPS would be suitable for for numerous reasons. Why does that matter? Well, figuratively the journey of life does come with a lots of twists and turns, highs and lows and no shortage of obstacles in your path yet there is ultimately only one reliable means to navigate through it all and still get to the Lord’s intended end for you – Holy Spirit. I found the parallel between Holy Spirit and a compass in this analogy to be profound to say the very least. Both are age old, both are reliable and both require your attention.

Well, I’ll be honest and say I don’t exactly know how to end this post now other than to say that I hope you learn to lean into God for leading, direction and guidance in all seasons of your life. But, I do feel the need to emphasize this especially in uncharted territories and difficult seasons(or what we could call tough terrain). Step by Step, you’ll get to the promised land as you continue to rely on the Lord. Walk with Him and never get lost again.

I love you with the love of Christ.
Abba loves you immeasurably, incomparably and infinitely more 💕
Catch you in the next Blog Post!

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