“It’s a new season” can be the most exciting statement God can tell a person, or the most terrifying. In 2014 I heard that exact phrase and it rejuvenated my spirit. I didn’t hear the Lord utter this to me in the last couple of months, but it was evident enough that we were walking in a brand new season. I left my job and ministry where I was for close to 6 years, one of the hardest yet most evident things I have ever done. Leaving behind the security of a job was not the most difficult thing, I know I can trust God with that. Leaving what my wife and I built and poured our lives into to walk into the uncertain was more difficult than leaving a paid position. The most painful thing however was leaving behind students and parents that we’ve loved, even though we know that God will take care of them. It was clear that we needed to leave; to ignore the signs would have been like riding a bicycle through a blizzard.
So here I am, without a job in the world. I went on a walk one morning soon after we resigned our position to pray for provision. I brought a Bible and walked a couple of miles away from my house, asking for God to speak to me. I know that in this season He’s teaching me to live by His word more than ever (Matthew 4:4). I was waiting in anticipation for Him to speak, and He did. Read Psalm 101. I sat down and read. Nothing about provision, just a strong warning about me guarding my heart. Memorize this. Oh come on! I’m looking for $$ and you’re giving me a homework assignment. I was grateful that I heard Him speak, I know if that’s all He says it will sustain me. I was also grateful He said I would only have to memorize the first 4 verses, He would speak the last 4 over me. It says (and I promise I’m not looking it up, this is memorized!) ‘I will sing of mercy and justice, to you O Lord I will sing praises. I will behave wisely with a perfect heart, O when will you come to me. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. (I guess I’m not supposed to even fantasize about telling off the people who mistreated us at our church.) I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away, it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart I shall put away, I will not know wickedness.’ The last 4 verses (copy and pasted from Bible Gateway) say ‘Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.’
So I’ve got that going for me.
Our best friends (and mentors, and pastors) are going through a very similar season, and the Lord is speaking to them over and over again about rest. Every insight they share with us is so perfect, it’s right where we are at. We are eternally thankful for the Groenemans.
So we’re leaving a season of high stress ministry to a season of rest. We see our friends walking through it, but what does it look like for us? So far, I am finding great joy in our Tuesday’s. My wife teaches dance on Tuesday mornings and I have the kids all to myself. We are homeschooling our children and I get to do school with them on Tuesdays. We’ve been going on nature walks, and I can feel the sweet presence of Jesus as we laugh and observe nature. The two older girls bring sketch pads with them and draw what they see while I push my youngest daughter in a stroller. As per my OCD I naturally make a playlist on my iPod before we go out on these walks, the soundtrack to the rest my soul so greatly needs. On our first walk I kept remarking to myself ‘ÝES!’as the next song would play, this was a perfect playlist. Here it is.
- Ginza Samba- Vince Guraldi & Bola Sete
- Stop Your Sobbing- The Kinks
- C Jam Blues- Nat King Cole
- Sloop John B- The Beach Boys
- Lost- Frank Ocean
- Tired Of Crying- Fats Domino
- Ain’t No Sunshine- Bill Withers
- Anna (Go To Him)- The Beatles
- Shake, Rattle & Roll-Bill Haley & His Comets
- Time Of The Season- The Zombies
- Why Don’t They Let Us Fall In Love- The Ronettes
- Young At Heart- Frank Sinatra
The promise I have in this season is I will dwell with the Lord, that His eyes are on me. I am going to nature walk, enjoy the music, play with my kids, love my wife, laugh at everything, and be sustained by Jesus’s word and presence (Hebrews 1:3).
Here are pictures of a walk, where we saw a giant spider being carried away by some sort of beetle. Pretty cool stuff.
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