Step off the cobblestone

There is just something about Venice. The way stories are woven into the cobblestone streets. How water flows quietly through the canals, filling every crack and void with its presence.  I think Jesus acts in much the same way.  Always present, never pushing.  Displacing our broken and missing pieces  with such a gentle quietness that we often miss the work he is doing.
Reflecting on this season of life, I have come to recognize more and more of the forms God’s love comes in. This love is victory over impossible battles. It’s doors opening for those elusive dreams you never thought possible. For me, it’s the people who have forced me to keep my head above the waters of depression. The ones who know my tendency to drown even though I know how to swim. They keep coming back with a life ring in hand, diving right into the waters of my inconsolable moments and days of irrational darkness. It dumbfounds me, why they stay. But they do, and I thank God every day they do.

Through this year, God has been putting a strange new calling in my heart. One that says step off the cobblestones and into the gondola. Row in and out through the canals of my grace, exploring all my love has to offer. Dear child, there’s so much more to me than what you can see from the safety of the land.. You see, this season for me is about transition. From injured to healing. From controlling to dependent. Letting go of relationships. Moving away from home. Moving past the barriers of my fear and learning to live authentic. He has displaced me from everything I’ve ever known and with nothing familiar to hold onto, I am forced to soften like clay in His sculpting hands. As scary as it is, God has been asking me over and over to lay down all I am at His feet and wholeheartedly trust He will turn the ugly stuff into something beautiful. The thing about God is He never forces me to change. He simply extends a hand in invitation and in the midst of familiar grounds cracking beneath my feet, I take it for support. As I begin to lean into God’s understanding rather than my own, the noise of all my desires slowly fades away until all there is left is His will for me speaking just a little more audibly. See as we actively choose God above our circumstances, He delights in our trust. Through the good and especially the bad. God doesn’t let any one minute of calamity go to waste if we give it to Him; He uses the pains of this world to mold our hearts into a shape that more closely resembles His. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28.

I hope you’re ready today to lay it all down in eager expectation that God is transforming you. His whispered love is quiet, but the closer you come to God the better you can hear it. So approach the throne and listen. Set your heart at His feet and listen. You and me? It’s high time for that gondola ride.