Going on "alone"

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. I've had more to do than I realized and was shocked to see it's been almost a month since I've posted.

Among the many things that has happened in these few weeks is that I have a friend who has left the known for the unknown, venturing out "for the sake of the Name." She is a person with the gift of "connections" and had many friends who helped her out at various points over the past few weeks. Different ones walked with her these last few days, assisting with details and errands and offering up well-timed diversions to help her enjoy her time before leaving for 2 years abroad.

But yesterday afternoon, she went somewhere that no one else could go ... no one that is but One. The One who called her on this journey. Oh, we can and will and should still support her - so she's not truly "alone". But at the moment she went upstairs from the lower level of the airport, to that section where no one could follow, we released our grip on her and put her in His hands. And she was going on alone.

We all face such times in our lives - maybe not on an airplane; perhaps just in our quiet times. We may be wrestling through something that we have to work through with God; some issues of obedience are places we have to walk through "alone", with Him. Beth Moore calls it "the place of further still". We have several priority relationships in our lives - the larger groups, the smaller groups, the friends and intimates - but there is a place we go to that only He can go with us. It's the place Christ went in Gethsemene, when He left the disciples and went "further still, about a stone's throw away" to a place with God alone.

The place of "Further Still". The place where we go when we need to do business with God, or when He calls us to something that requires our gut-level obedience, or when our friends let us down, or when no one else can get on that plane though many want to. The place where we go on alone ... but not alone.

If God is calling you to something and people are letting you down (falling asleep and all that, like the 3 did) ... or if so many want to go but can't ... or if you are struggling to accept something hard ... get to that place of Further Still. Go on alone with Him. Have some trusted friends who can pray for you during that time, but don't hesitate to ask them to release you into His hands. He'll handle you gently. Things might look different on the other side ... but He'll be there too. Along with any community He wants you to walk with along the way.