A couple of Sundays ago, Dean and I had the honor of hosting our Lobby Time for online church. “Where do we go from here?” was the sermon title, so we talked about road trips. I love a good road trip. Dean and I love to just drive and see what we see. Road trips with kids are always more challenging and Dean didn’t like stopping. Like. At. All. Our eyes would be turning yellow before he would stop for a potty break. Of course, being directionally challenged meant that a trip to the dentist could turn into a road trip. I was always prepared with snacks when the code “we’re on an adventure, mommy needs quiet” were spoken.

So, I’ve been thinking: Where do we go from after we had a life-changing encounter with Jesus? If we are to live for God, if we are to be whole and not allow our brokenness to define and dictate our lives. What if we continue to hold onto hurts and habits that hinder us and keep us bound?

Think about Blind Bartimaeus as he was begging. You can find his story in Mark 10: 46-52. Jesus heals him, he can’t believe how he can walk and run and dance and not smack into a wall. His family and friends are in awe. He sleeps for the first time in that freedom. The next morning, he wakes up, hears the birds singing and saunters into the kitchen where his mom asks “What are you going to do today? Have you thought about what you would like to do for a job?”

Now what? He needs to learn a new skill set. A blind begger who is no longer blind doesn’t really doesn’t fly anymore.

What about the prostitute in Luke 7:36-50, who disrupted a fancy dinner party to pour oil on Jesus’ feet and was told she was forgiven and to go in peace. What was going to be her next step? How was she going to live? What would she do the next time someone stopped her expecting her to do and be what she was before the encounter with Jesus?

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

They each needed a new way to live ~ a new way to view themselves.

In my life, I have had Jesus heal me physically, emotionally, mentally and of course spiritually. Even though Jesus had healed some physical things before, He is allowing MS and Lupus to still be a part of my life. It’s hard and discouraging at times, but He is so faithful to me in the middle of it all. I have also been set free from all kinds of emotional and mental barriers: fear, insecurity, jealously, self-doubt…

Each layer of healing brings with it the choice to agree with God about who I am or turn back to my old way of living and thinking. Each time I am faced with a new opportunity I need to face the lie of not being good enough. Each time I feel insecure, I need to remind myself that I God thinks I’m valuable and worth the cost of Jesus’ life.

And even with our best intentions of not turning back, we do. We are more comfortable with our anger so we hold onto it. We are more familiar with fear so we continue to allow it to direct our life.

“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.” Proverbs 24:16a (NLT)

There is grace (thank You, Jesus!) for our first, faltering steps and our outright pivots to go back. How do we go from the encounter to fully walking in the freedom? Or when people pigeon-hole us into what we were? Now what? Each and every time, we align ourselves with the truth of God’s Word; we rehearse who we are in Him; we trade our self-defeating “everything” for the resurrection power of heaven.

It’s interesting that Jesus asks Bartimaeus “what do you want me to do?” Maybe we don’t know where to go from here because we don’t know what we want. What is that thing we need Jesus to help us with? After Bart told Jesus he wanted to see, Jesus said: “your faith has healed you.”

Do we have faith that Jesus has the power to meet our deepest needs?
Where do we go from here? We continue to run into His arms because He is trustworthy and faithful. Jesus is always asking: “what do you need?”

So, when we say: “Now what?” We can know that Jesus is invested on seeing us move from the encounter to walking in the fullness of freedom.

I hope you have an amazing day!!
All My Love ~
Jodi xoxo