Yesterday, I spent some time out on the west coast of the North Island. Originally I set out to take some photos for some projects that I’m working on. While frames were snapped, the scenery and untamed nature of the ocean framed my heart in these thoughts; noted after an evening swim at Ruapuke Beach.
Ruapuke has long been one of my favourite places in Aotearoa. There’s something powerfully intimate about rugged, untamed, lonely places. Everything about the sand, swell and space echoed where my heart and mind seem to be right now.
It’s been 7 months of living in New Zealand and while I feel so fulfilled, at rest and right where I’m supposed to be, I’ve also felt the sting of uprooting my life and moving across the world. The feet-on-the-ground reality of changing everything to heed the call isn’t always easy. What was new perspective becomes learned rhythm. Friendships become Facetimes and a way of life becomes the way things used to be. And yet, all the while, if we choose to, we grow, strengthen (often in the midst of falling apart), make mistakes we didn’t even realize, and learn to lean into the Tower of Refuge and Strength.
What a gift, what a promise of glory that the Lord hears us when we pray, when we sing, “set me apart, use me for Your Kingdom.” Though it costs us, it should be our heart’s deepest cry to be set apart for the Lord. Being set apart is often seen through the lens of pain, which is not to be glossed over, but the greater joy and hope I discover every time I face set apart-ness, is that we are set apart TO and FOR Him, not FROM Him.
Psalm 84:11 gives language to this promise, “For the Lord God is brighter than the brilliance of a sunrise! Wrapping himself around me like a shield, He is so generous with His gifts of grace and glory. Those who walk along His paths with integrity will never lack one thing they need, for He provides it all!”
When it feels lonely, He’s our best friend. When we wonder why things aren’t the way we thought they’d be, He’s the Father who walks alongside us and makes straight the road before us.
So we trust, obey and love Him with abundance...remembering that in all these things, Jesus is the joy, reward and ultimate out-worker of all life’s nuance and complexity.
