This past April, I decided to take a trip to Puerto Rico for my 30th birthday. Living in New York City during a pandemic was causing an overwhelming sense of unease to flood my mind. The thoughts to take this trip and “get away” from all that had been going on with the pandemic led me to do some further digging into why I had allowed myself to distance myself spiritually.

With Gods peace, I decided to take this trip as a way of strengthening my relationship with Him, to build back and maintain my roots of faith.

The trip was booked, with no plan or itinerary I prayed the Holy Spirit would lead me. I believe traveling alone opens hidden channels within ourselves that challenge us and strengthen us. On my journey to reconnect some of those channels began to open. My breathing slowed, my senses were heightened, God’s presence was on me and I was reminded I am found in Him.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8, New International Version)

How blessed are we as daughters, that our Heavenly Father leads us to rest? This means repositioning our feet unto the source of our faith, that can guide us to a new strength.

By reconnecting I was reminded of three things:

Be still and know He is the same yesterday today and forever:
We live in this culture where overnight opinions and perspectives change — Jesus never changes, regardless of the season of life we are in. I was feeling depleted, frustrated and weary. Focusing on the One who never changes and physically acting on it encouraged me to sharpen my gaze on Him. It can be simply taking a different approach to your routine or setting aside time to be in nature. For me, it looked like walking into the sun, palms to the sky, with joy welling up inside of me and having a good cry. I was reminded of how great His love is for me.

God is transforming us in His timing, we need to trust the process:
“And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:10, NIV) Sisters, we must recognize we have been given these new heavenly bodies because we have accepted God’s love. We no longer walk by this worlds’ standards. Yes, there may be moments in our lives that leave us questioning our growth, but God’s word empowers us — we are constantly being renewed, steadily operating on Gods sacred timing.

Glow with gratitude:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV) Step back and take stock of where you are, where you have been and what a journey it was. We begin to glow when we find our origin is in God and we praise Him and thank Him for the seasons we are in. By recognizing how unique we are and finding the beauty in our seasons, we can begin to glow. When you glow with gratitude you begin to walk differently; and others start to gravitate toward you. That is a part of our purpose as Followers of Christ, to be His image bearers — we all have access to it, may we pray to be intentional and continue to cultivate those roots.

Reconnecting with the Source