Suitcases and Our Savior

Oftentimes I find the LORD speaks to me by bringing up certain symbols and/or phrases wherever I go.  In my conversations with people, the books I read, podcasts and songs I listen to, etc.

One of the symbols He keeps bringing up is a suitcase - a rather obscure item to be sure.

I've spent the past three weeks unpacking (no pun intended!) this word - what it could possibly mean.

I just arrived back from spending time with a woman I consider my mentor in California.  Currently I have about two weeks left before I move home from a season of ministry spent in Missouri.  My suitcases have been packed and unpacked quite frequently as of late.

I think we tend to believe that God will grant us crystal-clear direction in regards to what paths we should choose - and often He does.

But lately I've discovered that sometimes He doesn't.

Some days the Spirit will make things so abundantly clear that you have no doubt in your mind about which choice to make.  Then again...sometimes months of praying and pouring out your soul before God asking for clarity will leave you feeling even more confused than before.

What do you do when seeking the LORD's face seems not to clear the picture, but muddy it?  What if the choice, for some baffling reason - is left up to us?

"What if following Christ means giving up on your greatest dreams?"  This thought has haunted my subconscious for awhile.

What if God's plan isn't the path where everything flows smoothly and our work always succeeds?

What if instead - following where Jesus asks us to go means watching the things, projects, and relationships we've labored for fall apart in our hands - then packing our bags to move on to something new as we mourn the loss of what we thought to be best?

In some seasons, we pack our bags like Abram in Genesis 12 - without knowing our destination.  We make the best choices we can with what we're given.  A friend of mine once said "I will follow Jesus today, I will follow Jesus tomorrow, and today and tomorrow will become my life."  We trust that we are where He wants us to be today - and if He wishes us to be somewhere else tomorrow - He will get us there.

Perhaps this is the real call - to pack our bags with all of our uncertainty, our wearied souls, all of our pain and the feelings that always seem to conflict with what we know to be true -

And we follow.

We can follow wherever He wishes to take us because Christ never wastes an opportunity, an effort, a hurt or a discouragement.  He does not handle our souls roughly.  Though our dreams do not always coincide with the dreams He has for us - He does not toss them aside as though they are nothing.

The LORD created us as creative beings.  He gave us souls to feel things deeply and brilliantly.  He gave us the capability to be driven by immense passion and conviction.  He may redirect, but He never disregards.  Our God sits with us in our tears, in our uncertainties, our confusion, our frustrations and through the greatest fears we can imagine.  And after we zip the suitcase shut, preparing to walk into that which we cannot see or understand - He carries it for us.

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