I’ve been on a bit of a spiritual journey lately. Well, I’ve been along for the ride on someone else’s journey. It’s been an emotional trip as well as a spiritual one. While we have moved along these last few weeks, I have learned many things about the character and nature of God. It’s been good. And it’s been hard.

I’ve never been called as a witness in a court case. Several years ago, a friend of mine lost her life at the hands of her husband. It was one of the most horrific things I have experienced. I saw him and spoke to him at length just few hours after he did it. When they discovered he had taken my friend’s life, I thought I was going to be called as a witness at his trial. I spent a lot of time thinking and writing down the facts as they occurred that night. As it turned out, he confessed. No trial. Whew!

Witnesses are supposed to tell the truth about what they know. As I have been on this recent journey, I have tried to do that. I have told what I know to be true about God. I know these things because He has allowed me to see them. In my life, have seen Him heal broken bodies, repair fractured relationships, provide rescue and relief to people in need, and comfort those suffering. I have experienced His faithfulness time and again. I believe in who God is, and what He can do, so much that sometimes I can get a little zealous.

My desire for others is that they know what I know. I want to bear witness to who God is and what He has done. I want to impart that to other people so much that sometimes I might be guilty of dragging them along a bit too quickly to be of much use. Its not fair to them, really.

I guess I think if I can just help them to see God, and His great love and power, then their lives would be changed forever.

Okay, that’s true, actually.

But I have arrived at this place where I am with God because of my own journey through this life. My own trials, my own experiences- both good and bad, have brought me here. There was no crash course in knowing God for me. It has been a day-by-day, year-by-year experiment in growth and intimacy with my heavenly Father.

I have to be willing to allow God to take people on their own journey and do it on His timetable. I find that so hard to do. I want to say, “Can’t we just fast track you to the part that you fully trust in God, so that you can rest in his peace, know that he’s working on your behalf, and even now sorting this whole thing out for you?”

I guess it could work that way, but then it would rob them of the experiences that come to show them who God is in their own lives. I can tell them who He is in mine, but they need that closeness and intimacy that come through shared experiences with Him. It is a beautiful dance with the Holy Spirit to gain that intimacy with God. That dance has only room for two.

The fast track would certainly be easier for everyone involved, but it just doesn’t work that way. I am learning in my zealousness, to stop pushing, stop instructing God on how He could best handle situations, and when prompted, and only when prompted, share things about His nature and His character. Any role I am to play is merely a supporting one. I am not a major player. It is just an honor to be along for the ride when God is working out His will and His way in someone’s life. Even if He doesn’t do it the way I would do it.

Especially when He doesn’t!

Can I get a witness?