Setting Our Sails

Sometimes a course change becomes necessary when we feel ill-prepared. Though we may have seen signs of storm clouds or shifting winds, the change of direction still somehow feels overwhelming. In the turn, there is a pause where the wind actually leaves the sails completely, only to allow us to move them so that they may reset and be filled again, allowing the vessel to glide on in a new direction. Though merely a matter of moments, that pause can feel eternal. The emptying, resetting, and readying to be refilled…

 

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the One who will keep you on track. – (Proverbs 3:5-6, The Message)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. – (Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT)

 

What we do in that pause is what matters most. Do we trust in Him, or do we allow the wind to blow us to and fro? As we seek Christ and His will, He will show us the direction that He intends for us to take. His very best for us will always be the way we are led. The best way is not always the easiest way, (as in fact there are almost always obstacles to overcome), but His way is the way that brings us to the place to which we are called, and that is the way that is best. May we trust in the Lord with our whole heart and not depend on what we perceive. Let us seek Him and His will in all that we do, and allow Him to lead us.

 

When sailing along,

and the wind has died;

we’ve done all we can,

all things, we have tried.

It is in that space,

where trust is required;

choose to wait in hope,

faith Christ has inspired.

For when all seems lost,

adrift in despair;

His sweet wind shall blow,

to move on from there.

When His wind does come,

we must choose respond;

or we’ll stay in stuck,

rather than sail on.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that we can trust You with all that we are and that we don’t need to try and figure it all out on our own. Thank You that when we listen for Your voice, You will speak to us and show is which direction we are to go. Forgive us for our lack of trust or for running ahead and choosing not to slow down to seek You to hear Your heart. Teach us to trust You more, so that we would seek You with all that we are in all that we do. Show us how to love others in the same way that You love each of us. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be exalted O God, as we wait patiently when the wind is shifting, and trust in You to guide us along the course to which we have been called. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Moreno and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present.

Father, I thank You that You have heard me. – John 11:41