Our Unknowns

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going…not knowing what will happen to me there…However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:22-24.

If there was ever a person who didn’t take a step without waiting and watching for the Spirit’s nudge it was Paul. And it was an understatement when he spoke of going to places for which he was concerned for his life. He rarely was being sent to places of safety and comfort because he was a man on a mission for God and didn’t consider his life apart from the Spirit as an option. He fully understood that the point wasn’t what would happen when he arrived at his destination, rather would he be successful in testifying about how God’s grace saved mankind.

I began thinking of all the times that life forced me into the unknown. Waking up one day to the unknown safety of my 15-year-old daughter who had left home. Walking out of my dad’s diagnosis of cancer with the unknown amount of time we would have with him. The unknown length of time that my father-in-law with Alzheimer’s would live with us. The unknown… something that can certainly loom as a shadow causing us concern and worry.

What if we were more like Paul and focused on the testimony of God’s grace in the unknown instead of the details of the unknown? We have the same Spirit within that Paul had, so what if we aimed our attention to telling the story of redemption, restoration and the faithfulness of God in our past unknowns? You and I cannot control the things of this world that are thrust upon us, but we can control who we are in Christ during the unknown. I know that as believers we don’t arrive at the thresholds of our circumstances unequipped. The Spirit of the Lord lives in each of us, and where the Spirit is there is power. In Christ, we have the power to overcome. In Christ we have the wisdom in navigate through our stormy waters. In Christ, we have the hope to triumph over the unknown. These are the promises of God, but we must watch for Him, move with Him and testify about Him.