Rise Up and Come Away

I was sitting curled up in a tiny log cabin, fire going, cup of tea in hand, listening to the raging blizzard that taunted me from outside. Thankful for this cozy shelter in the middle of a blinding storm, I closed my eyes blissfully and smiled.
And then I heard my name called.
"Amy!"
Faint at first, I laughed it off, believing the howling wind was playing with my ears. Then I heard a loud knock on the door, an urgent, forceful rap that could not be written off as a wayward branch being flung from a tree.
Reluctantly and with rightful alarm, I slowly rose and walked near the door.
"Amy! Get your things, it's time to go."
The voice was unmistakable. It was the Lord.

You know that sound they play in songs and movies of an old record being scratched to a quick stop, signifying a 'whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute' moment? This was one of those moments. As the record came to a scratching halt, I lucidly came out of this dream-like vision only to hear the Lord say,
"A time is coming when I am going to call you out, call you to leave a place where you have felt safe, and ask you to leave in what seems like the absolute worst time to go. You will need to just trust me and quickly obey."
I had this vision about 5 years ago.
Now is that time.
He is asking me to leave this place I've known to be my safe haven and go out to a new destination in the middle of a horrible storm. Emotionally, I have experienced so much loss and grief in the last few years that I often feel as if there is nothing left of me. I have been hard hit from every side and so much want a cozy log cabin I can curl up in and just ride out the rest of this winter season. But I can't. At what feels like the absolute worst time to me, spiritually and emotionally, God is calling me to rise up and leave-- to brave the storm and move forward to the next place he has for me. Ironically, it's also in the dead of winter and I'm headed toward the mountains of Colorado.
Many people have asked me, "Why Colorado? What's out there?" After being sent out on such cool, exotic missions to Australia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, it's hard to not have a specific answer. People expect me to have some obvious purpose. All I can say is this: I don't know. I've always loved Colorado-- have always felt like myself when I come here (if that makes any sense). I am starting art school in February, but I am doing that online, so it is not determining my location. I found a church here in Denver that my friend Christine believes was designed just for me (it has Messianic Shabbat services on Saturdays, is held in the oldest synagogue in Denver, has an international staff, is missions oriented both internationally and city-wide, and has Gentile- style services on Sundays both in English in the morning and Spanish in the afternoons), but I did not come out here for that church. By the way, you can check it out at www.churchinthecity.org

Only God knows why I am here. But, I'm not complaining. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to getting a 'normal' job again and just meeting people and seeing what opens up. I am learning that for me, missions isn't necessarily about where you go, it's about who you are. I love going to nations and plan on going out again in the future. But, I also love seeing the hearts of the people around me and getting to share the incredible, all-powerful love of God with love-deprived Americans.

Thanks for sharing in my journey.
Also, a friend recently asked me why I changed the name of my blog from 'In God's Whirlwind' to 'It's Still Life'. It's simply because more often than not, life is found in the stillness, in the mundane, in the normalcy of being human. Sometimes there is a wonderful whirlwind we get to dance in and that was the DR for me, but for now, though I am still in the grace and will of God, I am reveling in the stillness. It may not be as wild, but it's still LIFE.