7 years ago

7 years ago, I returned from an island. A beautiful place. I went there to serve, but that's not what happened. It showed me who I was. It birthed me. It conceived in me a tiny seed. Inconsequential, perhaps.

I knelt in that church somewhere in west LA and sobbed. I sensed its conception. I caught a tiny glimpse of the life God had for me. He spoke in short phrases, not sentences. I responded with groans, not answers. "Heal," He said. "Create," He said. "Trust," He said.

A stranger approached. "God will give you everything you need for what He just called you to." I didn't understand it then. I was 20 years old. A kid in so many ways.

I held onto that word. Mildly. Many times I even forgot. But my subconscious never did. Without knowing it, my life moved, shifted, adapted, to make room for its growth. Just as the mother's body changes to make room for her growing baby.

At age 21, I carved the word into a piece of wood. Dry, lifeless, perhaps, but infused with His promise. With that tiny seed. I showed it to my friends. They nodded in agreement, but we didn't fully know anything then. It was a dream then. Hypothetical even. A distant vision.

My life shifted when I didn't get into medical school. Made room when I spent a year living in a convent serving LA's homeless.

The seed grew as I lived in Africa's largest slum. It seemed so random you see. So easily dismissed. But He knew. He formed. He displaced all that was in the way.

See, God's promise has everything to do with His purposes and workings and actually nothing to do with our abilities, talents, or even persistence. All He needs is for us to have an inkling of faith, not to dismiss what He has promised, even in whispers. And even in our dismissal, He remains faithful.

In all the up's and down's, all the closed doors, rejections, God's Yes ALWAYS remained. His Yes never changed. It's so important to know this. Our inheritance doesn't diminish with time. Our inheritance doesn't diminish in the face of obstacles. It doesn't diminish even in the face of our own doubt and hopelessness. 1 Peter 1: 3-9

So today, 7 years since that whisper. Since that seamless conception that could have so easily been dismissed. 7 years later, God spoke yet again.

This time, He didn't speak in short phrases. This time His word wasn't conception.

This time, His word was: fruition. Life, breath, movement.

Feb 6, 2012. It's official. God's word will never return to Him void. It's official. God is always faithful. It's official.

The next phase of my life just began.

To God and God alone be the glory.

Alabaster Mobile Clinic