I moved from Florida to Kentucky when I married my husband and became a stepmom to three beautiful children. Married for the first time in my mid-thirties, I was excited for the journey. But there was a lot of change. It was big city life to rural America. It was church of 13,000 to town of 7,000. It was single, independent woman, to married mom of 3. Career to stay at home mom. Beaches to cornfields. Lots of cornfields. All, beautiful. All at the same time?
Overwhelming.
A cornfield in particular is inside our neighborhood. At the end of the growing season, when the corn stands its tallest right before the harvest, the only vision line is corn. The sharp curves around the road are hidden from sight, and it looks as though there is no way to the other side. In our early years of blended family life, this field represented all the ways I felt blind to the next steps to take as a wife and stepmom. I loved my husband, I loved my covenant kids, but the truth was it was hard, and I was struggling.
Soon after, the same plot of land in our neighborhood was sprouting different leaves. It’s not even note worthy to the people in my town, but I was awestruck. It was supposed to be a cornfield. I asked everyone I could about it, only to learn how purposeful it is to rotate crops on the same soil every few years. What had been a corn field was now bean field. Mind blown.
Clearly, I’m no farmer. I can’t even keep patio plants alive. I wish I could, but I can’t. So, there’s that for my agricultural background. You see, (if you’re a farmer, bear with me) soil needs different seeds planted periodically, in order to replenish nutrients drained from it during prior seasons. Planting different crops promotes the richest soil, thus the richest harvest. So simple (and apparently very common knowledge) yet so fascinating to me.
The same spring, I was on a walk at the edge of that field. Staring out across that field, once again crying out for help, I heard God whisper in my heart, “Are you going to let me grow a different crop in you?” I was undone. I’d been approaching my new season of life, my unknown journey, in my own strength. Yes, I’d been asking God to work in our family but the truth is I'd been blind to where I wanted Him to do it in a way that was familiar. We’re often looking for easy, aren't we? God’s looking to.
God was inviting me to trust Him, to let Him do a new thing.
Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” He invites all of us to pay attention, to perceive, what He is doing so that we can experience more of Him.
He may be asking you to join Him as He makes a way for others. He could be asking you to open your heart toward healing and recovery from the past. Or, He may be ready to make a way in you, so He can make a way, through you.
Whether it seems tiny or huge, the journey starts with trusting God. It requires believing Him more than fear. He'll do the rest.
What new thing is God inviting you to trust Him with?
