What are your plans now?

This question greets me nearly every day. It’s not a bad question at all. In fact, it is one I rather expect to be asked after moving back home.

I’ve been home just about a month and it is so easy to jump back into my old routines and slip right back into life as if the last six months never happened.

But it would be a tragedy to do so. Because the time I spent with YWAM in Latvia was meant to change something, and I see now that the main person it was meant to change was me.

And so it begs the question, “What does God have for me in this season. What are my plans now?”

This morning, I came across a verse that keeps echoing in my mind…

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you
when I laid my hands on you.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity,
but of power, love, and self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:6-7 

During my time in Latvia, one of my favorite things to do when I had the night shift at the transition center was to take the women down to the lake, start a fire, roast marshmallows and stare out into the wonder of God’s beautiful creation. I always watched intently as they carefully crafted the fire.

Lighting a flame is easy; it’s done with the simple strike of a match. But the flame can be gone as fast as it came if the next part isn’t handled very carefully.

Building a fire requires the perfect combination of the right pieces of wood, a structure that protects the flame from the wind and some sort of paper to catch on fire first.

And once the fire is roaring, it still calls for new wood every so often or else the fire will eventually turn to ash.

Starting a flame is easy. But a fire requires fanning into flames.

That’s when God made it clear to me what this season is for; this distinct season in time was given to me to fan into flames the spiritual gifts that he has put inside of me.

All of my life, I have followed my most obvious gifts. Ever since I stood on a church stage at age four and belted out a solo in front of hundreds of people, it has been pretty clear that God gifted me in music. I love music and performing, so it became easy to design a life that revolved around that one talent.

Deciding to move to Latvia was the first time in my life that I made a conscious decision to do something that had nothing to do with advancing my music. In fact, I was giving up a stage where I had reached over a thousand people every week to lead worship for a few women every week in our transition center and café ministries.

But when I finally set aside my identity as an artist and simply focused on helping broken people, God placed all kinds of new passions and desires inside of me; new skills, new perspective, a deeper compassion and an ever-expanding renewal of creativity.

I realized that I have had it backwards my whole life. Being passionate about music actually doesn’t make me passionate. But when I am passionate about reaching people, music becomes one of the creative ways in which I express that passion.

So now I am faced with a choice; will I fan the flames until it becomes a roaring fire, or will I slip back into my old routines and forget that God lit the flame for a reason?

I choose to fan the flames. I choose to study, learn and give time to perfecting what God has placed inside of me.

And most of all, I choose to keep pursing what makes me come alive; reaching people who are hopeless and helping them find hope.

God lights the flame, but it’s our responsibility to fan the flames.

What are your plans now?