It is true that there is hard that comes with saying yes to God. It is true that God will ask us to do things that will often seem so incredibly beyond us and cause us to ask God if He is sure that He chose the right person for whatever He is asking us to do. It is true that our yes often requires sacrifice, and sometimes saying yes to God will mean giving up things or saying goodbye to people that you love and hold so dear that the thought of giving them up or moving away actually causes you physical pain. That is what my yes meant for me when I moved to Utah. It meant some very, very painful goodbyes and moving on from an incrediblely unique season of my life that I knew, in a very real way, I would never get back.
But saying yes also meant some really great things, too. Saying yes to God meant discovering a new church in Salt Lake City with people I never could have imagined would start to feel like family even in just a few short months. Saying yes to God meant getting to meet even more people to love, and it meant that I would begin to watch Him take care of me and bless me in very unique and specific ways that I never could have imagined before I came here.
Saying yes has meant receiving more gifts, encouragements, and kind words from others than my mind can count. Saying yes has meant realizing for the first time in two months that I am starting to laugh and smile with people here in the same way that I used to do with people back home. It is realizing that I don’t just have to have ONE family back home, but that I can have family here, too. It is realizing and being okay with developing and maintaining friendships here, knowing that the relationships I build here will be so uniquely different than the relationships I have with people in KY – and knowing that is OKAY. Saying yes is ktrusting God enough to allow my heart to be open to loving new people, recognizing that loving new people doesn’t mean that old friendships ever stop, or even that I start to love those people any less. Rather, it means that God is growing and expanding my capacity to love and care for more people at one time than I ever thought my heart was capable of.
Saying yes, for me, has meant being okay with having my heart in two places. Saying yes for me has meant choosing to continue to love and hold dear my relationships with those back home in KY, while also allowing the Lord to work my heart enough to have the courage to develop new relationships with people here in Utah. Saying yes has, and continues to mean for me, to be okay with the unknown and step into it with boldness, even when you feel all the fear in the world. Saying yes means choosing faith over fear, intentionally stepping into and being fully present in this new season, while also recognizing more and more every day that I have NO control over everything that lies ahead for God’s plan for my life. Saying yes means choosing to both surrender to and trust a life that always has an element of uncertainty, because we will never know all at one time what the full extent of our future with God will look like. Saying yes is knowing and being assured in the deepest part of our heart that God ALWAYS knows what is best for our life, being grateful that He is the one who is directing and guiding our every next step.
At the end of the day, all I know is that I have, and will continue to, say yes to God. I will say yes when it hurts, I will say yes when it’s fun and exciting, and I will say yes when I am so overwhelmed thinking about how I could possibly make it through what God is calling me to that my stomach starts to hurt and I cry myself to sleep at night. I will say yes because not only is Jesus my Savior, but He is also my Lord. My life is not my own, and I recognize more and more every day that God’s plan for my life is so much better than, and ultimately matters so much more, than the life I think I want for myself. The more I see God work in my life, the more I realize that following God and His plan for my life is always followed me the most incredible, insurpassable peace, and the joy that comes with saying yes to Him is better and more powerful than any of my own desires or plans. I have come to believe that His plan is always better, and brings my heart more contentment and joy than I could ever have if I was the orchestrator of my own life. I’m so glad I get to live into such an unexpected adventure with God every day, and even though it’s hard sometimes, I know that He is taking care of me, and I know that He only has the best in store for my life and for everyone who chooses to and has the courage to say yes to following Him. I hope that reading this post and a little bit about my story can inspire and encourage you, even if it is just a tiny bit, to have the courage, the boldness, and the faith to choose to say yes to God, too.
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”, (NIV).
Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path”, (NLT).
Isaiah 26:3-4: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal”, (NIV).
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