Trusting God with Every “Yes”

Before we set out to do a thing, we want it to make sense. We would prefer to know all of the details and have all of our resources secure and within reach before we start. The more we know and the more prepared we are, the better! But what do we do when God asks us to do something beyond our comprehension? Something that stretches us beyond our comfort? Something that requires us to follow Him into the unknown? Well, pull up a seat, and let me tell you about my journey of trusting God with every “Yes!”

THE STORY OF MY MOST UNFORGETTABLE “YES”

On January 31, 2018, I wrote in my journal, “I sense God telling me to stay home for my family, to teach my kids in His ways and to homeschool them.” At the time, I was five months pregnant with our son and working as an audit project manager for a large bank. I had been in the internal audit department for almost seven years and was in a very good position, serving as a subject matter expert for a critical topic and serving as the lead auditor for one of the key audits at the bank. In all honesty, though, my love for my job started to wane about two years before this date. Nevertheless, I kept doing what I needed to do to demonstrate my commitment to the job, and I aimed to do it well, but I had no long-term career goals or any aspirations to climb the corporate ladder (which was my goal when I started my career). I was simply there, going with the flow and grabbing hold of whatever opportunities came along for advancement.

The nudge to homeschool our kids actually came several weeks before I wrote that sentence in my journal, but I brushed it off. It seemed like a far-fetched thought and something that was impossible for our family to achieve. But it wouldn’t go away! It kept reoccurring in my thoughts, so I started to give it some attention. Part of me was thrilled at the thought of leaving my job, but the other part of me was very hesitant. I wrestled with so many thoughts…thoughts like…

• If I leave my job, how will we survive on one income? We had been there before very early in our marriage with two kids, and we STRUGGLED, living paycheck to paycheck. Now we were getting ready to add another child to the family, and I had NO DESIRE to go back to that lifestyle. It was too hard.
  
• If I leave my job, my college education will have been a waste. My parents worked SO HARD to pay for my four years of private undergraduate education, and I had put in an extra year to earn my Masters. It just didn’t seem right to “throw away” that money or education or the years I had spent building my career. It seemed too wasteful and too risky.
  
• If I left my job, I felt that people would look down on me and be disappointed in me for wasting my potential and not accomplishing my goals. I didn’t want to be seen as a failure or as a woman who never maximized the opportunities she was given.
  
• If I leave my job, what will I do all day? I never really had the desire to stay home before. In fact, I can remember having conversations with co-workers several times where I said, “I could never stay home. I would at least need a part-time job.” (I laugh now just thinking back to what I said!) I also had NO IDEA how to homeschool! I did not personally know any other families who had done it before, and I had no clue as to what the laws were around homeschooling, how to get started, what format/schedule to use, etc. The thought of being fully responsible for my children’s education kind of terrified me.

Although I wrestled with these thoughts, the idea did sound appealing since I was about to have baby #3…the opportunity to have an extended maternity leave sounded A-MAZING!!

With all of these concerns floating around in my mind, I mentioned what I was feeling to my husband, and to my surprise, he was onboard. He was thrilled at the idea of me being home with the kids and homeschooling them, but he did have one reservation. He wanted to “count the cost” of living on one income before we completely said yes. So we began to pray about it and give it serious thought. Almost four months passed, and that May, we welcomed a whopping 8lb 2oz baby boy into our family! We were ecstatic! A little over a month after that, towards the end of my 10-week leave from work, we both felt confident that I really should leave my job to homeschool the kids. We had no idea what that fully meant. There were still unanswered questions and uncertainties about our future. We knew it would require a lifestyle change and lots of discipline with our finances, but somehow, we were willing to move forward despite our concerns. I began researching homeschool laws and options and called my boss to inform her of our decision (one of the hardest calls I’ve ever made). My husband and kids sat with me as I made the call. It was a bittersweet conversation, but when it ended, the once anxious heart I had from all of the “what-ifs” immediately turned to peace. I did it! WE did it! It was one of the biggest faith steps I’ve ever made in saying “Yes” to God’s will for my life. It wasn’t my first “Yes,” but it has been my most memorable one because it required a tremendous amount of faith as I stepped out into the unknown.

THE HEART OF “YES” TO GOD

July 2021 will make three years since that “Yes” to God became an action and I left my full-time job. Since that time, I’ve had the opportunity to say “Yes” to God for other things, like leaving the church I’d been planted in for years to establish roots closer to home and focus more on my family, like starting this blog to inspire and encourage women to pursue real faith in Christ as they do real life and endure real struggles, like partnering with my friends to start a Facebook group designed to help women grow in their relationship with the Lord, and most recently, like pumping the brakes on my plans to grow this blog and launch into other areas of women’s ministry because I heard God telling me to “grow slow.” And let me tell you, saying “Yes” before has not made saying “Yes” again and again an automatic response. There is no doubt that each time I say “Yes” to God, I move to another level of faith and trust in Him. But honestly, each time He invites me to do another thing, I still have questions, insecurities, doubts, and fears. Sometimes I still ask or say, “God, are you sure?”, “But what about….?”, “I don’t have what it takes to…”, “What will people think about…?”. The problem I have is that, too often, I rely on my own knowledge, skills, strength, and intellect to perform the task instead of relying on God to do it through me. I try to make sense of things that are beyond me, things God doesn’t intend for me to understand at that moment.

I can’t help but think of Proverbs 3:5-6 (shown below)…two verses I’ve quoted often and heard others quote many times before. I would love for God to give me every detail when He asks me to do something. I would love to know the outcome and have all of my questions answered and not one insecurity or fear. But if that were the case, I wouldn’t need faith to trust God. In order for me to move on what God asks me to do each time, I have to trust in His wisdom, His sovereignty, and His power. Ladies, I’ve learned that TRUSTING GOD is the heart of saying “Yes.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

-Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

When Proverbs 3:5 says to trust Him with all of our heart, it means literally that…trust Him with every emotion, every insecurity, every inadequacy, every fear, every unanswered question, every thought, every doubt, every past failure, every achievement that will seem wasted or left behind…He wants it ALL! It’s not our job to have confidence in our own abilities or to figure out or understand the details or the outcome. Instead, God wants us to literally confide in Him and place all of our confidence in His power and His ability to accomplish the task through us no matter what the outcome is. He also wants us to acknowledge (or recognize and admit) that He alone has the authority and the wisdom to determine our path. As we do these things, we can trust Him to give us the next step…and the next…and the next.

When we believe God’s Word, we can trust that He already knows the end result of our “Yes” and everything in between.

-Melanie Norris

Our “Yes” to God is dependent on our ability to fully trust Him. And our ability to fully trust Him is dependent on our belief in the truth of His Word. When we believe His Word, we can trust that He already knows the end result of our “Yes” and everything in between (Isaiah 46:10). We can trust that He is for us, that He will help us, and that His faithful love for us will never end (Psalm 118). We can trust that even when things don’t go our way and we encounter difficulties and hardships, because we will (John 16:33), He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Isaiah 43:2). And when we choose to believe His Word, we can throw up our hands and surrender. Giving God our “Yes” is the ultimate act of surrender.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

What is it that God is asking you to do? He may or may not be asking you to leave your job to homeschool your kids, but is He asking you to take another job or move to another city? Is He asking you to stay where you are even though you long to get away from there? Is He asking you to foster or adopt a child(ren)? Is He asking you to surrender your expectations for marriage or your desire to change your husband? Is He asking you to embrace and be content with your single status? Is He is asking you to endure sickness or a challenging situation? Is He asking you to forgive someone who hurt you tremendously or to initiate reconciliation with someone who wronged you? Is He asking you to give up a bad habit, a relationship, an opportunity, or a dream? Whatever it is that He’s asking you to do, view it as an opportunity for you to 1) get to know Him better and 2) partner with Him in advancing His Kingdom in the earth.

As difficult as it may be to move past your insecurities, hurts, doubts, and fears, lean into God with everything you’ve got! Confess to Him exactly what you feel and what concerns you, and then release it from your grasp. Choose to believe that He’s trustworthy. It does not matter how big or how small His ask is; anytime we say “Yes,” we position ourselves to experience God in ways we otherwise would not if we continue in our same-old comfortable ways. God never called us to live comfortably. Faith is not comfortable. Faith is not knowing the details of His plan or what lies ahead in the future. Faith is not knowing the outcome of our “Yes” before we make a move. But faith is believing that the God who is leading you to say “Yes” is the same God who will guide you, protect you, provide for you, and sustain you through the “Yes.” Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6).

You don’t know the impact that is waiting on your “Yes.” You don’t know the healing that is waiting on your “Yes.” You don’t know the freedom that is waiting on your “Yes.” You don’t know the people who are waiting on your “Yes.” YOUR “YES” MATTERS!!!

Sister, will you TRUST GOD with your “YES” today?

If you need more encouragement on your journey to saying “Yes,” read my devotional: God’s Plans Were Not Mine. Also, visit my Resources Page to download the free phone wallpaper below as a reminder to trust God with your obedience.

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