Stepping forward in the dark

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.
     It's  simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.
                                                                   - Joni Erickson Tada
This is especially for Pam, firstly because she asked where my next blog is and also because I know that being a 'Sage' spiritual type that the idea of moving forward without feeling in control or knowing what's next is a frightening concept. I have to point out (and she won't mind me saying this) that she has in her life faced some extremely difficult times where she has not known what would come next and has put her trust completely in God for her journey...I don't know if I could face cancer with that grace or faith!!

But this is about taking brave steps, even when we don't feel brave about it!! I have found in my life that the biggest pay offs come when we step out in faith, take a chance, do something completely outside the box. The most recent example of this in my life is my sister, Clare, and her husband Mark (plus teenage daughter) who believe that God has called them to move back to South Africa. This would not seem such a leap of faith unless you know that they are going with virtually nothing, no job, no home, school, car...they know that God wants them to do something more with their lives and so my sister and her daughter went there with only a suitcase each. They got rid of EVERYTHING and are starting over, because they believe that God needs them to do this. They are stepping forward in the dark.

A few weeks ago I preached on darkness and about how in the dark all your senses become more alert, your hearing, taste and feeling are heightened.
I believe that at certain times that God calls us to walk (metaphorically) into the darkness on PURPOSE!! Because it is there that we can have our spiritual senses heightened, we can become more fully aware of the Sacred. With nothing else to distract us we can hear God more clearly, feel God more intimately (ooo next blog: God and the erotic!! I love that subject). God becomes more tangible.

The good news is that we don't all need to do something as drastic as moving to South Africa to meet God in this place. Just trust yourself....that voice that keeps coming in the back of your head that is challenging you to try something new, to step outside your box or your comfort zone may well be the voice of God. But so often people ask me, "how do I know it God's voice and not my own?" Now there are times in my life when I fall back on my years ago Sunday School training and this is one of those. In time you learn that there is a different quality, feeling when God is giving you messages, they can come through reading something, through the words of someone else and you can sometimes hear words or thoughts in your soul's ear, but I was taught that whatever it is, it will be an act that comes out of love, will never ask you to do harm, that voice should NEVER make you doubt that you are the perfect creation made in God's image. If it breaks any or all of those rules then it is probably not from God.

But just to finish...heart of the matter group were given this Bible passage to use in prayer, Micah 6:8
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.