Often people use this phrase to express their desire to walk in the words they have spoken about themselves or the choices they have decided to make. Man is it hard!! Walking out the words spoken in a moment of frustration, joy, or pain often leave me feeling restricted. If you have ever been there, I am sure you feel me. Yet I didn’t really understand how or why I was making the choices I was making or speaking the words I chose to speak. How many know that is just too much work!
God had been asking me to look at why I desire to walk the walk. Does it come from a selfish place or one of humility? Is it because of fear or true reverence to who He is in my life? All I can say is wow…I had no clear answer. I had to evaluate my understanding of who God is in my life to uncover my motives. For the last few years this question has been at the top of my list. Why was it I had decided to walk in His footsteps? Because the answer wasn’t as easy to come up with as I thought it would be. I really had to separate myself from people, places, and things to get an authentic answer as to why this walk was so important to me. To gain a clear perspective, I begin to do these three things: choose, learn, and trust.
Choose
I choose to put God first. Girl, this was hard, and I failed at it a few times, yet I have not given up in making God my highest priority. I started to really think about all the reason God deserved to be number one on my list. Why what He thought of me mattered more than those who were around me. David helped realize that I really wasn’t putting God first in all areas of my life. Yes, David the man the Bible says was after God’s own heart. As I studied, I noticed how he spoke about God. He always held in high regard all that God commanded, even when it came to Saul. He would not kill Saul when he had the chance because he was anointed by God. Now that is what you call reverence!! He even went up against a giant because of the way he mocked the people of God, David’s heart was to please God in all things.
Learn
I had to learn who God was for me. Being in church taught me all God could do but I had never experienced God for myself, so it didn’t mean as much. I asked God to remind me of all He has done in my life so I can see that He was there. All I can say is I am so grateful that God has protected me because I have had some close calls in my life. When I left home as a teenager God reminded me how he protected me. When I was in places and with people, I had no business being in company with He kept me safe. His love for me was shown in the generosity of people watched over me and provided words of wisdom when my young mind thought I knew better. To me God is a protector, provided, and is loving. Daily He is revealing more to me and I am so here for it!
Trust
Honestly, the hardest part of this whole process has been learning to trust a God I cannot see. Just like the Israelites, at times I want to physically see the God I serve. Because they could not physically see God they were prone to creating a god they could. I have not created an object to be a god in my life, but I have allowed things to take the place of God in my life. This small desire grew without my knowing causing me to look in places that God did not intend.
With these three things God has shown me that I need to let go of my preconceived ideas of who I think He is and really get to know Him. He has been blowing my mind as I walk in His footsteps, so I am committed to following where He leads.