Dear friend,
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
I quit a job once by writing the email four times. First version too apologetic, second too cold, third had a joke in it I deleted at midnight. I sent the fourth one shaking, then sat in my car in the parking lot before I even went inside to start the new thing. Starting something new has been on my mind again this week, how it never announces itself as brave, it just feels like your hands won't stop moving. I keep coming back to Abram in Genesis 12. God tells him to go, and the text does not say he felt ready, settled his fear, or got a preview of Canaan first. It just says he went. No montage. No confidence. Just a man packing up a life at seventy-five with only a direction, not a plan. I used to think faith looked like calm. Now I think it might just look like moving your feet while your stomach is still arguing with you. What is the smallest true step you could take today, not the whole plan, just the next one?
A prayer
God, she is standing at the edge of something new with shaking hands. Steady her enough for one step, not the whole road. Go with her the way You went with Abram. Amen.