Hmm… what might my crystal ball say???

Last week’s Zoom meeting was on the one hand very encouraging. Four other women and I met to do some brainstorming for the coming year, 2022. We were thinking through what we sense God wants us to pursue regarding training women in this part of the world — a HUGE task, but one to which each woman on the team is passionately committed. They are a fantastic group, and even though we live in three different countries and have to juggle multiple time zones for our calls, our deep, genuine commitment to one another and to God spurs us on as we tackle a myriad of unknowns.

On the other hand, the call was a bit overwhelming. IF ONLY we had a crystal ball that we could peer into to glean answers to all the uncertainties confronting us. IF ONLY it were possible to KNOW if we should pursue Option A… or B… or C… or D (which was a hybrid of C + A or B). The pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages of each option were duly noted and discussed…

And yet the call ended and we had no answer, no concrete idea of how we should proceed.

Decisions are a well-known part of life. Everything from… What should I make for dinner? Where should I go to university? Who should be my life partner? When can we make plans to travel? Should I change jobs/move? Should I pursue this or that treatment for my health concerns? How can I pay next month’s rent? When can we meet again in-person (a question not on anyone’s radar until COVID turned our world upside down)? The list is endless…

As our team pondered all the unknowns facing us, we came back to an underlying, guiding principle:

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 straight your paths. (ESV)

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track. (MSG)

Proverbs 3: 5-6

God, not a crystal ball, is the One who will — in His timing, in His ways — make His plans clear to us. When we (yours truly in particular!) try to figure everything out on our own… well, we end being anxious, fearful, overwhelmed. Sometimes I find I’m so busy that I fail to MAKE time to listen for God’s voice. I get caught in a frenzy of activity… and so need to slow down, listen, trust.

Yes, TRUST in the Lord… with ALL my heart. Don’t depend on my own feeble understanding. I’m so very limited… but God sees the big picture, all the things that I’m unaware of (thankfully!).

It’s a journey, this thing called living by faith, learning to trust God moment by moment… and sometimes I do better than other times. But as we — like the women in the Zoom call — come together to listen to one another, to hear one another’s hearts, to encourage each other we can move forward and have joy in the journey of this thing called “Life.”