But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16
I stopped in to see one of my aunts shortly after Christmas where she works. She gave me a hug and said, “You smell like smoke.” I told her that I was outside sitting by a fire a few days before and she gave me a little bit of an odd look. She seemed a bit perplexed because although campfires are quite normal for me, it was the middle of winter with snow everywhere.
Have you ever had someone call or connect with you in some way when you were struggling with something? You may not have even known what the problem was yourself, but you felt out of God’s peace. This happens all the time to me! The phone will ring or an email will be sent where someone senses something isn’t quite right and wants to know what the problem is. Sometimes I don’t even have an answer!
There was one specific day that I got one of those calls. I was told to get outside with a fire and get clarity. I have to say that I fully believed I needed to take the suggestion of those giving the advice; I trusted them. There was snow everywhere, but I was heading outside to sit in front of a fire and get some quiet time with God. I was bundled up and even had hand warmers inside my gloves because it was cold out!
I sat there looking down a path believing I was going to see a deer or something else coming out of the woods. I was trying so hard to focus on the world in front of me that I wasn’t paying attention to anything else. There were all kinds of branches and trees so I couldn’t see too far ahead, yet I just knew God was going to give me a glimpse of one of His creatures.
As I was sitting there studying the woods, I felt God telling me to look up. There was an amazing hawk soaring above me! I could’ve missed it because I wasn’t looking up! I believe God had that lesson planned for me.
I feel like God was saying that when we keep our eyes focused on the world with obstacles in our line of vision, we see chaos, negativity, and problems. However, when we look up, we realize the world is much bigger than what we can see right in front of us. The rain comes from above that can wash our problems away. The sun comes from above that will shine on our face and warm those cold, lonely parts of us. When we look up, we see peace, positivity, and answers. When we look up, we’re expecting and believing!
When we focus on what we can’t see clearly, frustration occurs because we’re searching and not finding. We’re focusing on the obstacles…the trees. We need to see what’s between the trees and beyond the trees. Once our eyes are focused on above, those same woods that were right in front of us look so much better.
I realized I needed filled up with some alone time with God to keep moving forward with focus. I needed God to put things back into perspective. It’s amazing how we would never start out on a trip with an empty tank of gas, yet I used to do that over and over again every morning. We expect to fill the tank up over and over again in order to be able to drive across the country. What makes us think we can go on empty day after day?
After that special time in front of the fire, I learned how important it was to start on full every morning. My family knows it’ll go better for them to give me that time with God. They see that I’m able to give them so much more if I’ve had that necessary time to allow God to provide me with His love so I have it to pass on.
When I saw my aunt, she smelled smoke, but I smelled clarity! Withdraw often to places where you can look up and get a new perspective.
