GIANTS in the Land

Gee, I can relate to the scouts who checked out Canaan, reporting back to the Israelites how they'd found a land flowing with milk & honey - but there were giants in the land.  "They are of great size;  we looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes.  And they saw it, too."

How familiar that feels - I have seen my life's purpose & it is as every bit as wonderful as I could have hoped it would be.  But there are giants in the land, challenges too big for little itty bitty me to conquer.  It's easy to miss the old days, when I was aware that I wasn't where I wanted to be, but at least had the full comfort of the familiar, the known.  

Joshua & Caleb told the people, "The Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, and give it to us.  Only do not rebel against the Lord.  And do not be afraid of the people of the land - the Lord is with us."  

But the people wanted to go back to where they'd been, back to the flesh pots & comfortable servitude of Egypt.  And the Lord was NOT happy.  He pledged that none who had grumbled against him would enter Canaan, that everyone 20 years or older would fall in the wilderness, Caleb only, and Joshua, being spared to lead the new generation to take what had been promised.  Not even Moses, who would die in sight of it, but never cross over Jordan.

Of course, once the Lord said they couldn't enter Canaan, it was the one thing they wanted to do!  Humans are soooo perverse.  Moses warned them that God was not with them, but over they went anyway - and were soundly defeated.  The Lord was not with them.  

Am I going to be Caleb & Joshua, or one of those who died in the wilderness having seen the Promised Land but turned away from all it offered rather than believe something new & unfamiliar yet true, or Moses, who saw  his people cross over Jordan into Canaan but could only watch, not be one of them?   

Every day, every moment, it's my choice.  

The life's work I've been shown is filled with every professional & personal blessing I could hope for - fulfillment, work that matters & makes a significant difference, that provides an excellent immediate income & which can be built into additional income streams.  It is, indeed, a promise flowing with milk & honey. 

It's human nature to feel like the challenges are overwhelming.  First & foremost, I have to get past my old self.  I have to believe in something bigger than I am, in something that believes in my ability to move forward, to cross the Jordan & enter the new land.  It feels unfamiliar, uncomfortable, alarming, in spite of the excellent reports of everything waiting for me.  

I've had my laptop for over 5 months.  I've never used it, not once.  It's not laziness, not self-sabotage.  It's fear of the unknown, which makes no sense yet is such a powerful deterrent to claiming my birth right.  

Be Caleb, be Joshua.  Get over it.  Seriously.  Know that the Lord is with me & cross over Jordan.  There will be challenges, there will be difficulties & things will rise up to strike me down.  Know that All That Is stands with me, believes in ME.  That is everything.  

Joshua provides the words of counsel I need most ~ "Fear not, nor be dismayed; be strong & of good courage."  

One of the most stunning, downright shocking things I've realized over the years is that I don't have the option to NOT make a choice - can't be done.  Even inaction is a choice.  

Again, Joshua has the words to face what feels like giants waiting to squish my dreams, my aspirations, keeping me rooted on the opposite side of my best life ~ "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

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