Faithful Footsteps: Walking with Nature and Jesus
Faithful Footsteps: Walking with Nature and Jesus
Has it really been two years since I have shared with you? It feels like the blink of an eye. So much has happened — starting my master’s degree studies, losing Mom, losing my Aunt, job transitions, having elbow surgery, finishing my master’s degree studies, and getting accepted to a PhD program. Through it all, there were A LOT of conversations with God. Every time I sat down to write, the words would not come, because they weren’t His words. Suddenly, as I was making my evening cup of tea, words came.
I feel closest to Jesus outside. My favorite conversations with Him are always on a walk, sitting on a beach, or swinging in my hammock. It doesn’t matter if I am enjoying the sunshine or counting the stars. Somehow, nature makes it easy for me to be quiet and hear what He has to say. When I am inside, there is too much going on for me to really get settled. If it isn’t my phone buzzing, then it is one of my fur-babies demanding a snack. Sometimes, I just need to put my feet in the grass and breathe.
I knew He called me to go to graduate school. It had been in my heart since I was a child. And yet, it seemed like an impossible dream. It wasn’t until I had given up that He kicked down a door and tossed me through it. He led me to the school, the funding, and the direction of study. I was scared and excited. I had plenty of reasons why I shouldn’t do this thing, which had been a whisper in my heart for so long. I know He placed this journey on my heart as a child because everything is possible in a child’s mind (Luke 18:16). The seeds He wants to plant find fertile soil in young hearts (Matthew 18:3). I know this is why my reasons for not walking forward in faith did not stand a chance.
The joy I have felt on this path - even with the hardships - is hard to describe. I finally understood WHY He had taken me on the winding path instead of the straight road (Esther 4:14). It has felt like the warm glow of a campfire on a crisp fall evening with a cup of hot cocoa in hand. It is that soft comfort of being where He wants you to be and never wanting to lose that feeling of warmth.
Here is the thing about doing what He asks you to do — eventually He has to move you back out of your comfort zone. It is like going from that cozy warmth to a hot day in August with 100% humidity and not even the whisper of a breeze. Opposition comes, and it comes from directions you least expect. It sows doubt. In my case, it also hurt my feelings. I called someone who had been a blessing to me my whole life to share my excitement about what I’d been learning and to extend the invitation to my graduation. I was flabbergasted when the reply was, “So you’ve been studying that woke stuff” and “You really should have studied cyber-security. You can make a lot of money doing that.” I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough (Micah 7:5). Enter doubt — had I really heard God right? Did I take the wrong path?
Those thoughts bugged me for weeks. I struggled. Hard. God had led me on this journey and with one off-hand comment by someone I loved but who was not called to the same journey as me, my behind had slid down the proverbial mountain into the ravine. Good thing these slips can’t stop God’s plan. He follows us into those ravines, so he can help us back up the mountain. He gave me Job 12:7-10, Job 37:14-16, and Psalms 96:11-12. He whispered once again the calling on my heart.
In the moments He spent lifting me back up, He also reminded me He gives each of us a path. It is important to seek wise counsel (Proverbs 19:20-21), but He is the one true Counselor. Jesus shows us what it means to walk where we are called even when those closest to us discourage us (Matthew 16:22-23).