Close your eyes and imagine yourself in your favorite place where you feel coziest and most comfortable. Invite the Lord in; that is where He wants to be—WITH you. Now imagine yourself in your deepest and darkest places of your story. Invite the Lord in as well. He still wants to be WITH you. That is why He is called Immanuel (Hebrew for God is WITH us). There is this scene that I go to every time I just want to be with the Lord. I close my eyes and get lost in my coziest and most comfortable space. To me, it is a coffee shop—A bare coffee shop where there’s a number of empty tables and white floors with no pictures or distractions of any sort. I see myself sitting at one table and across from me is Jesus. He meets me there in my peaceful state. No one is around. The place is empty except that one table that sits Jesus and me. I look at the walls that are glass all around the place. Outside, it is dark. It’s stormy and filled with deep-colored greenery pressed against the glass and moving in the wild wind just outside the building. I imagine the outside being shrubs and trees all intertwined and in every direction that it makes it impossible to walk through. To make it even slightly possible to walk through the mess of intertwined branches and leaves requires the cutting down of the blockage that is set before me. Every time I imagine this scene, I look out the windows to see the darkness that is surrounding but decide to however stay inside my safe space—To stay in the white and empty coffee shop that sits two and two only. There is no way I am able to walk out those doors and walk into a forest of trees that block each and every direction that I turn.
Immanuel. God is with us. Why am I picturing myself walking out into that darkness all alone, especially when pictured in my mind is Jesus sitting right there with me? I don’t think I am the only one who pictures doing the impossible alone, which is why John 15 speaks a reminder of truth into my life each time I read it. Starting out in verses 1 and 2, it reads, “‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.’” Moving into verse 5, it continues to read, “‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’” Apart from God, like I picture when walking out into the forest that is surrounding my happy place, we will bear no fruit. Outside my happy place, trees of dark greenery grow out unhealthy habits, otherwise known as the branches that block my walkway. It grows unhealthy thoughts and deep secrets that I try to hide from the One who wants to be WITH me. I lock Jesus in the pretty and cozy places of my life and try to walk out into the scary and unbearable alone. The scary and unbearable grow no fruit; instead, to me it grows poison. Maybe that is why outside the glass windows I see no colors except the dark green that covers every sight of light that could possibly be let in. The poisonous color seeps into every gap that sheds any amount of light. Thankfully, John 15:2 reminds me that those branches that bear no fruit can be cut down and pruned by a Father who wants to be with us to bear much fruit.
We are not supposed to stay in places that make us most comfortable; although it is relaxing to go to that space, we cannot stay there if we want to continue with God and what He has for our lives. I want to walk with God and show people who He is and how He is able to heal and redeem every hurting heart. I, first, have to deal with the hurting heart that is my own and standing in the way; the heart that keeps me from being able to do God’s assignment for my life confidently. So as I encourage myself, I encourage you to walk WITH God into the impossible. Armor up. Go to war. A friend of mine recently and kindly told me that I am treating my deepest and darkest places lightly and that I need to suit up and confront the war that is happening right in front of my eyes. As Ephesians 6 tells us, let’s “put on the armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Verses 13-17). Thank God that He won’t leave us to fight this war alone. As I step out of my scene of comfort and into the dark greenery that seems to swallow every good thing, I will step out armored in God and allow Him to be my gardener and cut down all the branches that bear poison. WITH Him, I will bear much fruit. I will be able to widen my circle and leave space for people who are hurting to join me in walking through the impossible. WITH God, we will walk through all the uncomfortable places with confidence knowing that God has an agenda for our lives, and we get to walk it out WITH Him. Immanuel, we give you the highest praise as we follow your footsteps for our lives that will impact the lives of others who are also desiring to be with you. The unimaginable becomes imaginable with the One who always is with us to make a way. I now imagine my coffee shop full of people seeking God, not just me hiding out with Jesus alone and away from the uncomfortable. Let’s continue to imagine the unimaginable with God.
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