Posted on by Sydney Rose · 1 Comment

Not Ready…

I was laying in bed last night, drifting off to sleep.

But as I felt my body drifting, I got inspiration and a new idea popped into my head. I don’t know why it is that inspiration always comes to me at the worst times. This is not the first time I have been inspired to write something while trying to fall asleep.

It’s a miracle that when I woke up in the morning I actually still remembered what I was thinking about as I fell asleep. So here I am now, writing about my thoughts that I had late at night.

I fell asleep thinking about how a year ago, when I was on the verge of getting married, I felt like I was so ready for that next step in my life. I had been waiting so long to be married and now it was my turn and I wanted it so bad. But in truth, I was anything but ready, and it was by God’s providence and grace that he didn’t let me take that step into marriage.

Whenever I look back now, I cringe when I think of how blind I was. I was not ready, I can see now and say so confidently now, I was not ready. I was selfishly wanting that next step so bad that it was unhealthy. I was so shattered when I didn’t get it because I had made myself believe that I deserved it.

As I was thinking about this, the thought came into my head about how so much has changed in this year. Now I feel ready, more ready than I was then. I thought, yes, I am ready now. But the minute that thought entered into my head, the dangers of that statement came to my mind at full force.

I realized that to say that I am ready is to say that I know what’s best for me. And to say that I know what’s best for me, is to say that I don’t trust God’s timing and plan for my life. To say that I am ready, is actually a selfish thing to say, because it takes away the fact that I need and depend on God each day. Saying I am ready puts me in the position of demanding things from God and being upset for not having things because when I say I am ready I am saying I deserve certain things now.

There is a quote that I remember from C.S Lewis’ book “Prince Caspian” where Aslan asks young Caspian if he is ready to become king;

“Welcome, Prince,’ said Aslan. ‘Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?’
I – I don’t think I do, Sir,’ said Caspian. ‘I am only a kid.’
Good,’ said Aslan. ‘If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been proof that you were not.”

C.S. Lewis

It is because he is not ready, that he is ready. If Prince Caspian had said he was ready, he would be showing that he had a prideful heart and he would not be open to learning how to be a king. But his humble admitting that he was not ready, showed that he was ready, because he would be able to go into this new role willing to learn and lean into the wisdom of others.

So the reality is, to say we are ready, is not a wise thing to say. Yes, there will be times when we must prepare ourselves for something and we will be more ready than we were before for the task we are called to. But the minute we say we are ready and we have no more need to work or wait, we take a prideful selfish stance.

Saying we are not ready, is evidence of a heart that is seeking to lean on God and trust in God’s timing and in God’s way. Saying we aren’t ready, is the humble response God calls all of us to take so that our great God, can then come and be our strength and meet us in the places where we need His help.

So today, I am saying that now, after a year, I am not ready. I am not ready for the next step. I am not ready because I know how much I need God to strengthen me and lead me. And whenever God does bring the thing I desire most into my life, I will have to lean on Him for help and guidance. Because the minute I say I am ready, I am not ready.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

Posted on by Sydney Rose

When God Speaks…

Have you ever heard God’s speaking to you? What’s it like? How do you know it’s God’s voice?

Does God verbally speaks to his people today? It’s a question I’ve long wrestled with. Now, I don’t discount that he does speak this way to some of His children, but He has never spoken to me in that way, even after one time, a little over a year ago, when I sat in silence begging to hear his voice. But I have a story for you all today. I had a little experience the other day that I just have to get on here and write about, and yes, it does involve God speaking to me.

There have been two times in my life that I felt God’s overwhelming and powerful presence in my life telling me what to do. The time I surrendered my relationship and made the decision to move to Redding, and now this new experience that happened just a few days ago.

If you read my last post, you will be familiar with where my heart has been this past week. I got to see how God truly has been at work in his heart after I walked away from the relationship. I got to see him being baptized and my heart was not only filled with praises to God but also with a lot of hope. Now, the only picture in my head that I can think of to help you grasp the kind of way this new feeling of hope is like in my soul is to use a picture from Pilgrims Progress. So bear with me as I try to explain…

In Pilgrims Progress, near the end, when Christian and Hopeful are close the Celstial City, they begin to get glimpses of all the good that is to come. The hope and excitement of what is to come when their long journey is over and they reach this beautiful city fills them literally with so much hope and joy that they are sick. They literally cannot stomach it and they have to stop and rest.

This is such a beautiful picture of how the closer we get to Christ the more real and powerful the hope we have gets. But today I saw this part of the story, reflected in my heart. As my hope and excitement in seeing how God was working escalated so much this week that I found myself literally overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with good things and praises, but also, overwhelmed to the point where I have been unable to process.

And somehow, amidst all of the joy and hope and good things I was praising God for, a huge boat-load of worry crept in along with it (granted, a huge part of this worry is also due to the world’s events and all the news about Ukraine.) Suddenly I was filled with so much panic and worry for the future and worrying about things not working out or me not taking the right step. Worrying about God not giving me the answers and telling me to keep waiting even longer. Worrying about the world and all the horrible worst case scenarios that seem very real in my mind.

Well, when all these worries came, do you know what I did? I did what I always do when I get so overwhelmed. I headed outside, to my favorite walking trail, and I walked, and prayed, and walked, and prayed. I prayed but I didn’t have the words to say. I said a bunch of random and jumbled up things that probably didn’t make much sense and I walked in silence because I had no words. I don’t know how to describe this to you , but inside my head there was so much pressure and tension. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much, just straight heaviness, in my head as I wrestled with all the thoughts.

Then, suddenly, as I was walking it happened. I don’t know how to describe it to you, but I felt this overwhelming sense of something. And suddenly a new idea was placed into my head. Suddenly I was given these words, as clear as day in my mind; “God is working, God is making him into the man he needs to be. You don’t need to worry, God is working.”

Immediatly after this happened I did two things. I wrote down on my phone the words I heard placed in my head, and then prayed that if this was from God, God would make it clear. And this is how God answered me; all of the noise and build-up that I had inside my head, all of the worry, was just gone. It was like night and day. In the past God has always given me His peace after making a rough decision, but it’s always been the day after, never this immediate. I literally found myself laughing with joy and ecstatic because everything I was worrying about was just gone. The crippling sense of worry and fear I had literally one minute ago, was gone. If that is not a miracle and the hand of God working, then I don’t know what is.

He didn’t speak to me verbally, like I’ve always wanted God to do, but there is no doubt in my mind about what God told me. God told me not to worry. Gold told me that I can trust him because he is working. This was exactly what my fear-filled mind needed to hear.

Whatever happens in the future, whatever path God takes me down, I don’t have to worry. God is at work, I know God is at work. God comforted my heart in letting me know that I don’t have to make any decisions right now or take any actions other than trusting in Him. I simply need to wait and let God work, and while I wait, I don’t have to worry.

So, that’s my little story for you all today. This is a moment I want to remember and document and hold dear to my heart. And I want to encourage you as well, that what God told me is true of you as well. Whatever you find yourself facing, God is working in ways you can’t even understand. You can trust Him and you don’t have to worry. Let this be our new anthem (I’ve even made it my phones screensaver because I never want to forget what God told me 🙂 ) We don’t have worry!