What’s up fam?! It’s been a long time! Summer is upon us and I’ve been enjoying it to the best of my ability. As the youngins say, “Life be lifing,” and a myriad of circumstances have positioned me squarely in the middle to trust God. I could actually end this blog with that simple admonishment, but I really desire to share how that simplicity is operating in my life. I pray that it will bless you as it is blessing me.
This year marks 30 years since I moved to a state that I’d only visited once, and that was for the interview for the job I ended up assuming which inspired the move. When I moved to North Carolina, I’d been married for six weeks and we were expecting a baby to arrive in five months. Some of y’all might say, “that math ain’t mathing.” LOL! Talk about multiple life transitions at once! I had none other than God to trust. New marriage, new mom, new job, new graduate program, new state, just new. However, the God that met me early in my childhood promised in His Word to never leave me, nor forsake me. After settling in, I learned that I could in fact, sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. I developed community, new ways of being and learned to rely on the God of my mother and others who had a positive influence upon me, independent of them. As I would say, “I came to know my Mommy’s Jesus for myself.” Trust at that time, trust in my youth seemed simple. It wasn’t complicated. I had little history, experience or others to tell me differently. Trust, ideally should become easier as we age, but unfortunately, sometimes “wisdom” (and I intentionally use air quotes to drive home my point) can get in the way. Our knowledge compels us to trace the hand of man vs. the hand of God. This process can leave us exhausted and less connected to the God who simply asks for faith the size of a mustard seed. Now it seems I’m looking for evidence that correlates to conditions under which success can be measured. Yet, when we are attempting to understand what is not predictable, logically or credible, we cannot use worldly methodology. Such phenomenon is an invitation to trust the process, trust God.
Recently as I’ve ramped up my workout regimen, my legs were too sore to take the stairs at work. I opted instead to hop on the elevator. I noticed a different picture. For the last twenty years, Cherie Berry was the state’s labor commissioner. Her kind face accompanied by a seal of approval signaled that the elevator was safe to ride. Now mind you, I never met Cherie and wherever I traveled in the great State of North Carolina, I trusted that she’d done her due diligence to ensure that my ride was safe. Sometime in 2021, a person named Josh Dobson assumed Cherie’s long held position. Again, without introduction, I placed my trust in someone even less familiar than Cherie. Thankfully, I made it upstairs without incident. Since that day, I’ve been on countless elevators with no infraction. If I trusted the one who is nameless to me prior to Cherie; and if I trusted Cherie; and if I am now trusting Josh – why then can I not trust God? I certainly have more experience and witness in God than any other entity that can present – even my sweet Mommy.
As life presents it’s challenges similar to that of an elevator, up and down, in tight spaces, skipping the places I desire to go quickly, waiting on what feels like it will never come, sudden drops and others getting where they need to before me, I have to believe that there is reward for placing my trust in the One who was there, is there and will always be there. I wish all the best to Josh and I hope the Cherie is living her best life; I thank them both for their service. However, they serve as reminders to me, affirmations if you will, to trust the God who cannot fail, on elevators nor in life.