Have you ever noticed that when Facebook puts old memories in your feed with their “On this day. . .” tool, it’s like hearing an old song on the radio. It almost instantly takes you back to that moment. You remember what you were feeling and what was going on in your life. I often have an emotional reaction that was completely unexpected, and uninvited.
Sometimes it’s warm and fuzzy, sometimes it’s not.
This image showed up in my feed yesterday. It was May 17, 2014. I’d left my corporate job almost 2 years before. I’d worked harder than I ever knew was possible. I’d already felt the high- highs and the low-lows of starting something new in the world. I was still trusting that I was on the right path, but I was shaky and unsure of what to do next. I felt mostly raw and scared.
But my friend Libba believed in me.
She put me up on that stage, in front of 1,000 women, at Hope Fellowship’s women’s conference called “Wide Awake” to tell my story. To share the way I was trusting God to lead me one step at a time, even when I couldn’t see the path ahead. Let me just tell you, I was feeling anything, but wide awake.
That day I felt so loved.
It’s a strange thing to feel loved by a group of “strangers”, from a stage. But I did. I walked into that conference with HeartStories bills that couldn’t be paid weighing on my mind. Libba had invited me to sell “merch” so I set up a table to sell t-shirts, necklaces and everything else we had in stock. It was humbling to stand there listening to how my story encouraged some of those women, and then watch them buy a t-shirt with our headphone logo on it. I kid you not, my intern Danielle and I sold exactly enough merch to cover all the bills. It wasn’t a coincidence.
It’s what faith looks like.
It’s the long road, of taking one step into the fog at a time, unable to see the path. Not knowing where in the world the road is leading, but trusting you are still on the right road. You’re not lost, you’re just taking the long way home.
There’s a song on the radio right now that keeps reminding me, I’m just taking The Long Way Home. Let it remind you too.
Here’s the chorus:
We’re not where we’re going
And we’re not lost where we are
Taking the long way home
Just taking the long way home
There’s beauty on the backroads
Even when this journey’s hard
Taking the long way home
Just taking the long way home
Look into the fog and take the next step anyway. We need you to keep believing. We need you to keep going.
You’re not lost.
You’re just taking the long way home.
to more love,
Crystal
