Those three words have become some of the best advice
someone could give us in the past couple months. You may remember this post I
shared a couple of weeks ago about this roller coaster journey God has had us
on. I talked about how sometimes when you’re getting ready to get on a roller coaster
you try to examine the track while you’re waiting in line. You try to see where
all the twists are, how many times it goes upside down, anything else that may
intrigue you you’re trying to anticipate. But it never fails that every time
you ride a roller coaster for the first time, no matter where you thought it
was going it still whips you around in an unexpected direction.

Well that’s the kind of roller coaster we’re riding right
now. I shared yesterday in this post about God placing it on my heart to step
down from work when the baby came so that I can stay home with him. In
preparing for that big decision we sat down to explore how that would be
possible financially and what that would look like. I did home daycare part
time last year and I really enjoyed it; I knew that if I ever needed to stay
home and still bring in some income that that would be a great option. So we thought
that stepping down from church, I could pick that up and still bring in income
while doing exactly what God was calling me to do.

Since my decision to step down, God has taken us on a
completely different direction. Within just a couple of weeks of me taking that
step and talking to my boss about stepping down, another opportunity was
brought to our attention. At first, my husband was thinking he would decline
the opportunity because we were expecting our first child and instead of
bringing a lot of change into our lives, we would just be better off focusing
on having our baby and the transition into parenthood. Within a couple days his
heart had completely changed and he felt that we should explore the opportunity
ahead. So he took the first step of faith. Since he took that step, doors have
been swinging open left and right. We haven’t had a lot of information, nor do
we really know where this is going to end up. A door opens and we are left
there staring at this open door with very little information. God just presses
it on our heart to take a step and trust that our feet will land on solid
ground because he is guiding our steps. In talking to a friend I work with, I
told her about all the opportunities that were presenting themselves to us and
how the doors just kept opening. She told us that one thing she was always told
was, “Just keep pedaling.” When you get on that bike and doors keep opening,
you just keep pedaling. You just keep pedaling as God continues to open doors
and you pray that if at any time that journey is not supposed to continue that
He will close the doors.

Those words have continued to resonate in both of our
spirits the past two months. With each open door we just keep pedaling. I
believe this is the biggest faith walk that Chad and I have ever been on, in
our individual lives, as well as together as a couple. Life changes and big
transitions are huge. Having a baby and stepping down from work was already a
big step for me. But now God has another door that He continues to say to us,
trust in Him to guide us. I truly imagine us walking across a pond and not
seeing the stepping stones before us. We’re standing on one, and we go to lift
our feet and take a step just believing that we will land on another stepping
stone, because we definitely don’t see it before we step. For whatever reason,
God has decided that in this particular season of our life He is not going to
give us any details, He’s just going to give us the next step. We need to
determine that our faith in Him is greater than anything else and take the
step. Let me tell you something, it’s not easy, but it’s been a beautiful journey.
 

This is a huge deal for me as I am a huge worrier. Some of
you may remember me posting a status a month or so ago asking for people to
share their favorite verses on worry. I placed them all over my house and began
to meditate on them constantly. Although I am far from overcoming the tendency
to worry, I have seen so much growth in my life. If I start to worry, I don’t
dwell there. I immediately recall the word of God and pray it into that
situation and the worry is gone. I’ve said before that I tend to worry because
I want to know that there is going to be security. I can tell you another
thing, taking a step when you have no idea if there is going to be a stepping
stone there to catch your foot as it hits the ground is definitely a threat to
security. But I have been so overwhelmed by the peace of God through this
entire journey it’s amazing.

Chad and I know without a doubt that God is directing our
every step. We don’t know if these doors will continue to open and lead to an
entirely new life transition. We don’t know if a door will close along the way,
and what we learned from the journey be all we were supposed to get from the
experience. We have absolutely no idea, but we have an overwhelming feeling of
peace.

Sometimes in life God presents to you an open door or He
asks you to take a step of faith. It’s in our nature to want to figure out how
everything is going to play out once we take that step. Just like I tried to
figure out what things would look like after I took the step of faith and
stepped down from work. There is wisdom in that, there is wisdom in making sure
that the decision you are about to make isn’t going to counteract other things
God would call you to do. But a lot of times, God has a completely different plan.
His plans are not our plans; His ways are not our ways. We need to constantly
be listening to what it is He is directing us to do and be open to things that
are different than we may have thought. God’s plans for us are bigger than we
could have imagined, sometimes they’re a little scary and overwhelming, but I
believe that’s how we know it’s God. It keeps us in a place where we remember
that we can’t do it without Him. It keeps us looking to Him for guidance and
direction. It helps us remember that He’s the one in control of our destiny.
Aren’t you so glad that God is taking care of everything; you don’t have to
worry about anything at all!

All you have to do is “just keep pedaling.”