There's a line in a Michael Card song that goes,
"And we can't imagine the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind."
I'm struck by that challenge: "Trust me to take care of you. Seek first my Way, my Kingdom, and I will provide. You will be o.k."
After recently leaving a way of thinking about "church" that I've known for 41 years, God has been asking, "Will you trust me Jim? Will you leave behind things that have given you security and meaning so that you can have more of me, more of the life you most deeply want?"
We want to tether ourselves to those things that are most familiar to us, because it's easier to value security than the life of our heart. There's part of me that wants to return to the familiar, even if it costs me my heart. But in moment's of clarity, where my heart's not pinned down with fear, freedom takes over and declares, "No! That's not what I most deeply want. God can be trusted with my journey."
Thank you for the mercy of disruption, God; for the better promises in things left behind.
(lyrics from Michael Card, "Things We Leave Behind" - Poiema CD)