Set the sails, wait for wind

I waved goodbye to the kids, walked straight to the room where I’d be staying, collapsed on the bed … and sobbed.  Gasping-for-air sobs, tears streaming, snot running, can’t-see kind of sobs, hoping no one could hear me.

What NOW, Lord? 

Sure, I had prepared for this conference. I had 37 pages of notes, it’s not like I’d been napping all summer, but something still hadn’t clicked, I didn’t have the same sense of readiness, confidence, and anticipation that I’d always had before.

I remember Beth Moore saying she often had to face the fear, “Oh no, what if THIS is the one, the one where God doesn’t show up?!!!”

I could relate. I’d recently had lunch with a lovely woman of God, also a speaker, and we’d related about the fact that we, like everyone else of course, are utterly lost without God’s power and Spirit. Not just sorta kinda. Utterly. There is NOTHING I can do in my own strength to effect life-change in others, or myself.

It is an uncomfortable feeling, this utter-dependence thing.

Especially when there are hundreds of eager faces awaiting, all ears, ready for a Word from God. I looked around the room, if only there was a way to escape!  But I was dropped off at the camp, I didn’t even have a getaway car! 🙂

Of course I’m exaggerating, but not much! Those of you who have ever stepped out in faith in any way know this feeling: What if I step on the water and I SINK?! 

Thankfully, I knew the truth: You set the sails and wait for wind. 

Because I’m not alone in this, and neither are you. We all have to get from point A to point B, by faith. We can either believe we’re in a rowboat, miserably working all by ourselves, sweating and straining and stressing and moving very slowly. Or we can believe we’re in a jetboat, blissfully remarking, “Just let go and let God, man!” and completely ignore our very real part of the process.

But the truth is, the spiritual life is akin to sailing. 

There’s work that we can do, and there’s a lot of work we can’t.

We work and we wait. 

Our job is to set the sails. We create an environment where the wind of the Spirit can work. If we neglect our hearts, our habits, if we lazily pursue pleasure instead of doing the hard work of repentance, prayer, and raising the sails of God’s Word, we will miss the power and joy of His work in our lives.

But when we set the sails well, we can rest, wait, without fear, without anxiety.

Because it’s the wind that moves us, there will be fast seasons, slow seasons … still seasons. This is ok. This is normal. We must know the difference between stillness and stagnancy.

Is the stillness because of the wind, or because we’ve neglected our sails?

No checklist here or easy answers, but as we grow, we learn. We learn how to set the sails, and wait.

That first night at the conference, God’s wind blew in a powerful way. As some precious sisters in Christ stood on that stage before me and finished the work of setting our sails, and God was faithful to move us.

I learned all over again how to ditch the rowboat, the speedboat, the FEARboat! I learned all over again how to set the sails and wait. Our God is a mighty wind and He is faithful.

{Where do you need to go today? How can you set the sails and wait for His wind? Thank you for reading.}

“…Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Phil. 2:12-13

*I know MANY of you precious sisters were faithfully praying before and during last weekend. So grateful to be ONE in spirit, together setting the sails and together watching Him move. Thank you!