where waves grow sweet

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:10

I hesitate to launch into yet another post about intentionality for fear that you might take the word, roll it up like a bat, and bop me over the head with it. But I’m going to risk it from this side of the monitor where you can’t touch me.

Remember those two weeks of prayer and surrender I wrote a lot about but kept kind of vague? Time to explain. As you’ll recall, a few months back I stepped into a relationship with a pretty great guy named John. We were moving forward as couples do, which was good and fine for a time. But it reached a point when a pause was necessary to get God’s heart. So we agreed not to connect for two weeks, laid everything on the altar – including the possibility of not moving forward, and listened to what God had to say. Scary? Yeah.  Heart-wrenching? Yeah. Deepening and incredibly wonderful? Oh my word, yes.

This may seem overly religious to some and maybe just odd to others. But something was forged through the intentionality of this discipline. Separation from each other and fasting from physical comforts were not the end goals, but means to clear away distractions so the bigger picture could emerge. As believers, it’s our ultimate goal to live from this place, yet we so often miss it.

We serve an orderly God who loves to build things according to his perfect wisdom, but we tend to disregard his instruction and build our lives like many ill-constructed habitations in third world countries, leaning walls against other walls without any supporting structure. Or we draw up our own plans for our glorious abode without the skill or knowledge required for such an undertaking, ending up with a disastrous building that is neither pleasing nor sound. It’s no surprise much of what God spoke to me and John during this time was in building terminology. He seemed to be saying that he did indeed want to construct something, but it had to be done according to his blueprints and built on his foundation for it to be the safe and joyful blessing it was intended to be.

What this has meant for us is a focus on a deepening friendship. We have completely severed some areas in order to accomplish this…. laying down the lesser for the greater. I can promise you that it is not the way I would have constructed this, but it is the sweetest and most honest form of relationship I’ve experienced. So I’m thinking God must really know what he’s doing. Fancy that.

The remarkable thing is that surrender in one area has opened up my whole vista. I mean, I’m seeing the big picture everywhere I set my eyes. The renderings are so spectacular, I can’t wait until my eyes get to behold the true structures in all their sound and perfect glory.