Sometimes God asks us to take a step into the unknown, but the only clear direction he gives us is, “Go.”
All arrows pointed to one simple fact: We needed to leave South Carolina. But I didn’t want to admit it. This place had been my home for as long as I’d been breathing, and I didn’t know anything different.
Aside from my family living less than five minutes from our house, I knew all the best places to eat. If you wanted wings, you went to D’s. If you wanted Sunday brunch after church and some upscale Southern cooking, you went downtown to Motor Supply. Would the place we moved to even have Southern food? My guess was no, and if they did, it wouldn’t be good.
Persistent questions consumed my mind, and I didn’t have the answer to any of them. Where would we go? How would I survive without my family?
My husband and I had been married for five months, and for most of that time, he’d commuted over four hours each day to get to and from work. Due to the relocation of production at the company where he worked, work travel became a daily necessity. And for various reasons, moving to the town where his company had relocated was not an option. So, the job hunt began. For months, he looked for work within our state. Then, the tristate area. After nine months of searching produced nothing, he told me, “I need to widen my search.” I knew he was right, but my heart sank.
After our conversation, my husband updated his resume on a job site and made it searchable nationwide. I expected to wait weeks to months before hearing anything, but within twenty-four hours, he received a phone call. According to the manager on the other end of the phone, he was the perfect fit for a job they needed to fill as soon as possible. He wanted him to fly out for an interview the following week. As my husband relayed the news, everything sounded promising, as though our prayers were being answered. There was only one caveat. The job was located over 2,200 miles away, in northern Utah.
Sometimes God asks us to take a step into the unknown, but the only clear direction he gives us is, “Go.”
He doesn’t tell us what the next step is. He doesn’t tell us where we’ll end up or what we’ll need to take with us along the way. But one instruction is clear: He doesn’t want us to stay where we are. This is the place of faith where my husband and I lived for several weeks as he flew west, went through an intense interview process, and talked to his anxious wife on the phone. But here’s the thing: I don’t like ambiguity. I’m sure you don’t either. If I’m going to take a step into something unfamiliar, I want clear instructions telling me where to stay, what to take with me, and what to look out for. I want to know all the details and contingencies so that I can create a backup plan. These clear instructions make me feel safe and as if, somehow, these plans are going to foolproof my progress. But instead of giving me foolproof instructions, God was asking me to trust him.
How about you, friend? Is there an area of your life where you sense God saying, “Go,” but you’re waiting for further instruction? Has your need for clarity kept you in a holding pattern, afraid to take a step forward? I get it. I know what it’s like to spend months questioning God, only to realize he was waiting for me to move forward and believe him.
Here are three key questions to ask ourselves when God nudges us to move, but we’re uncertain of any direction beyond that:
1. What Is the Benefit of Staying Where I Am?
This is a question I ask coaching clients often. The reason why this question is effective is that it forces us to evaluate our motivation and inner thought life. Sometimes, what motivates us to stay where we are is comfort and familiarity. It is the security of knowing that if we keep the status quo, we maintain a sense of control. Or at least we think we do. Other times, it’s the belief that our progress has to be perfect. But friend, as we’ve explored before, there is no such thing as perfect progress. There is progress with the One who is perfect, and there is staying where we are.
Sometimes, staying where we are is the best option for our current season. There have been times when Chris and I wanted to move, but when we sought God’s guidance, all arrows pointed to us to remain put. The benefit of staying where we were was peace and obedience, but we had to be still, shut out the noise, and seek God to arrive at this conclusion.
2. Am I Motivated by My Desire for God or Control?
I realize this is a pointed question. But it’s a question we need to ask ourselves because our motivation is the key to everything.
Many times, when I’ve asked myself this question, the answer was control. Once I realized this truth, I dug a bit deeper and asked myself, “Do answers and instructions really give me control?” The answer was no. Instructions may give me the illusion of control and sometimes give me a sense of confidence, but most of the time, the outcome is out of my hands. I can still mess things up, even with the most explicit steps a, b, and c. Something I didn’t foresee could happen, and I’m unprepared for how to handle the situation or how to respond. When there are other people involved, any sense of control becomes even more of an illusion because I’m not dealing with robots, and I’m sure you aren’t either.
On the other hand, when my desire is for more of God, he always delivers. He may show up in a way I don’t expect or in a different way than I ask for, but he always shows up. He doesn’t turn away when we seek him with a heart longing for more of his grace, truth, and wisdom. So, one desire leads me to an illusion of control and never delivers, and the other one always delivers exactly what I need.
3. How Has God Prepared Me to Make This Decision?
When we’re focused on the future, we often forget to look back on how God has led us to this point. But when we look back, we see all the ways God has directed us and prepared us to make the decision we now face. We may see the ways he equipped us to say “yes,” and obey whatever our yes entails.
In the months leading up to our move to Utah, I looked back on the earliest days of our marriage. I remembered Chris telling me his work would probably require us to move at some point and discussing what this transition might look like. At the time, I put the conversation at the back of my mind and tried to ignore the possibility of uprooting our lives. But when I looked back, I realized God was preparing me in that moment. He was giving me an arrow, a sign of all the ways he would lead us, before I even realized it.
When I shifted my perspective and saw God’s hand in the details of our lives, I felt peace. And this peace kept me from obsessing about the future and all the unknowns. It kept me centered when questions about the details bombarded my mind.
Friend, this is a lifelong process, and one we will never master in this lifetime. But the effort is worth it. The tension we feel between grasping this life and releasing our grip is worth it. And in the moments when we realize the gift of letting God be God, we see that his ways are better than ours. Even in our questions, he continues to guide us forward with his love.
*This piece was adapted from Abby McDonald’s new book, Surrendering Certainty. Available everywhere books are sold.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/valio84sl
Abby McDonald is an author, editor, and writing coach with a passion for helping women get unstuck and respond to God’s voice in faith. Her books, Shift and Surrendering Certainty are part of her mission to empower believers to seek God in the middle of life’s messes and to share their faith with courage. Abby writes regularly for Proverb 31 Ministries’ daily devotions team, and her work has been featured in numerous publications. Sign up for Abby’s free 5 Days to Unstuck Challenge to help you break free from patterns of insecurity and regret.
