At every moment of my life I have two options. If I allow it, God will form my heart more and more in the image of his Son. I will act in faith to let God lead me into an unknown place, a place that I cannot know and cannot guarantee I will fully understand or enjoy. Like the one who is brought out of a cave into the light of the sun, I may be dazzled and disoriented by the place where God leads me. I may wish to return to my darkness, the place where I felt safe and at home. But I will remain in my darkness, my limited life, afraid of the life that God wants to show me if I but allow it.
In every conversation, every opportunity to “turn together” (cum-vertere) with an other, I can listen to the voice of God urging me to trust him. God is telling me that there is more truth to learn if I but relinquish my grasp on a partial truth, a truth circumscribed by my small self.
God has created me for a purpose and will at every moment of my life seek to lead me toward it. I must do my best to remove the obstacles to his gentle urging, reaching out in faith in imitation of Jesus. I may reach a moment of crisis, as Jesus did, a moment of sheer terror in trusting God. I may find myself on the path of suffering, like Jesus. And I may even give my life in trusting this God, knowing full well that he is so much greater than suffering or death. Jesus shows me that nothing that life throws at me can compare with what God wants to bring forth from my life. He will bring to fruition what he has started. He has clothed me in beauty and goodness, capable of deep and lasting love, and I will delight in it if I but allow him to form me.
Beautiful! Thanks .
Beautiful piece, how can I distinguish the voice of God from all the noisy voices out there?
Lots of comments about this inspirational piece of writing. I know I not only need to love God, I need to trust God. A big step.
From an introvert who tends to hold back a lot. Thanks!
Thanks to Helen for the posting of her comment led me to this incredible post. The great desire of my heart is that I will let go and allow God to lead me where God has determined is the best place for me to serve. I need to trust and “allow him to form me”.
Thanks, Tim, for this powerful and timely post. The fact that I found it a year after you posted it is witness to the timelessness of the content.
It’s interesting that sometimes I take these words as simple and good advice. However, today, while reading on another comment, I was led to Tim’s post. Then, those words “Jesus shows me that nothing that life throws at me can compare with what God wants to bring forth from my life” seemed to have lifted the heaviness in my heart for the past few weeks. It’s like ‘the people in darkness has seen a great Light…’
Without getting into details, I have been asking God why it is so difficult to cope with the illness of someone I love very much. I realize there is no answer. Now, I am most grateful to the Spirit for guiding me to these words on this post.
this has an echo of Boston College to it! 😉
lovely piece. no better focus for us all these days: trust God to lead us out of darkness.
One can be so in touch with one’s self and hardly see the
subtle, quiet leads of the Spirit within. Whenever I tend to be
self-directive, I need to be awakened to the more subtle ways
of the Spirit.
Thank you so much. This beautiful piece spoke to my heart. I printed it out and will use it in my daily meditations this coming week. Blessings!
Thanks Tim!
Amen. We need to keep our focus on where God is leading us. Too often we let the day to day ordinaryness push in directions. We need to let him lead us.