You are not crazy, you are growing.
Luke 9:3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.
4 “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
Have you ever felt out of place in an environment you once called home? I have, and I am sure you have had that experience one or more times in your life. After you have emptied your cup and given all you have, you need a fresh anointing. Not because you are better than the people around you. It simply means you have outgrown the comfort of the environment that once fed you. You need a new adventure to grow and to apply the wisdom, knowledge, and tools you have acquired. As creative beings, we thrive in new spaces. We discover more of who God is and who we are in Him every time we dare to walk by faith.
When God is shifting you in a new direction, your spirit man impresses on your heart; it is time to move. We are expected to go from glory to glory. Many don't always get the memo right away. We often ignore the nudging within our spirit. We either blame the devil for the troubles that present themselves, or even ourselves, when we don’t understand what is taking place. In my experience, it took me being mishandled to realize that my season was over. Breaking ground and evolving are not always a smooth process.
The signs of growth are subtle. At this stage, the Lord begins to change your desires, likes, and dislikes once again. You will start to see things through God’s lens, that you did not see before, that separate you from the people and space you loved. The excitement you once had in that place becomes a desert land. Resources dry up. Where there was once a land that yielded fruits has become barren ground for you. Open doors suddenly closed. Others are still functioning as usual, but you have to fight to do the things that were once natural for you. Child of God, the Lord is saying there is more He has for you, but not in this place.
1 Kings 17: 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
Elijah had such an experience. In one season, he was in Gilead. The next God told him to go to the Brook Cherith. When that season was over and his obedience had been satisfied, he was to move forward to Zarephath. Every season teaches us to rely on God’s method of provision. Each season shapes us differently. It equips us for another level of grace. Every child of God is expected to go from glory to glory.
I went through these transitions a few times, and every time I looked, felt, and transformed differently. The very first time I experienced this kind of uneasiness was when my time in the local church came to an end. Without any effort on my end, the doors closed and another opened. You will have a deep sense of yearning for more. My capacity increased, and I knew I needed movement. People started to misunderstand you. My desire to serve at a higher capacity grew. God always prepares the next environment to accommodate you.
I learned to master hearing the voice of God in many different ways. God never leaves us nor forsakes us. He takes us from hearing his voice in the most basic ways to developing a keen sense of his presence in confusion and barren places. God delights in expressing Himself in different ways. It is up to us to hear him in stillness, noise, and void. One of the ways God speaks is through our circumstances. It is one of the most overlooked ways of hearing the voice of God. When your circumstances are no longer conducive to your growth, wisdom shuts its doors.
Proverbs 1: 20-33 is key when it comes to learning the voice of God in a brand new way. Verse 28 says; “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
With every shift that takes place in our lives, God prepares everything we need for the next season ahead of time. It takes obedience and sensitivity to move by the spirit of the Lord. Just like Elijah, we need discernment to identify resources that are no longer yielding fruit and which ones are. Many people get comfortable in Gilead, so when the time comes to leave the brook Cherith, it is hard. But God has more in store. He does not leave us in the brook for too long. He needs us to move to Zarephath and beyond.
It is essential to never make idols out of any season. Had Elijah stayed in Gilead or the brook Cherith phase of his journey, he would have died there. It takes courage to step out into the unknown. Wisdom to adhere to the instructions of God and to rely on the conditions He arranged to serve us in each season can lead to life or death. We must understand as sons and daughters of God that even in drought, He provides. God always makes a way for his children. When one season ends, another opens up.
If Elijah’s account in 1 Kings teaches us anything in this moment, it is that worry is not faith. It is distrust of God. We discover truth and mature in faith in promised places. We learn to overcome obstacles and dispossess things that hinder breakthroughs with every journey the Lord takes us on. I encourage you to reach out for the promise of God by faith. You can’t build from stagnancy. Don’t look at the current situation. It never looks like the promise. Be reassured today that every step you take forward, you will be that much closer to obtaining victory. You are not crazy, you are growing.
See you in the next blog post.
