Waymaker: A Spirit-led Journey from Survival to Revival

My mind raced and my chest felt tight as I struggled to discern which direction to go. This way, Lord? That way?

What message would You have me to speak to them? Which direction should I take?

As I prepared for our Revive Winter Retreat, I couldn’t help but experience frustration and disappointment as the message I had begun to prepare for our Psalm 23 “He Restores My Soul” theme didn’t seem to sit right. The Holy Spirit was convicting me, refining my message, and I was to wait for redirection.

I wrestled and prayed and waited….and the Holy Spirit kept bringing me back to…Jesus.

Tell them about Jesus and what He has done. 

It seems so basic yet it should be this foundational principle that everything else in our life is built upon.

My initial message was focused on restoration - after all, our theme was “He restores my soul.” With my Enneagram 3 personality (the “Achiever”), naturally I focused on the action verb - the restoration part. But as I researched and wrote and prayed and pondered…I realized I had completely missed the most important part of our theme.

HE restores. Jesus restores our souls. 

How often do we completely miss this? We look for the action, the breakthrough, the miraculous healing, the change in our life circumstances, the result or the answer and completely forget the relationship? Jesus.

If you grew up in the 90’s (like yours truly) - you might remember the fad “WWJD”...I had it on everything - bracelets, chokers, journals, my Bible, all the things. And what did it stand for?

What Would Jesus Do?

While I think this is a great motto to live by - I think there’s a better phrase that should accompany us day by day and that’s -

Walk With Jesus Daily.

WWJD.

Too often we give our lives to Jesus - we accept His gift of salvation and eternal restoration with our Creator God - but years pass, seasons come and go, and we drift. We wander our own way. We settle for salvation but we never experience a life-changing, transformative relationship with God - His peace and presence that gives purpose to our daily lives.

When was the last time you can honestly say you have felt inner peace within your soul and outer purpose in your life?

Peace enough to say “It is well with my soul” which then leads to a confident, content living out of our life’s purpose and calling. 

Are you filled with peace and purpose? 

If not, perhaps you are missing out on His presence.

An actual deeply personal relationship with God. Because when we experience God’s presence - when we choose to walk with Jesus daily - we will be transformed from the inside out by the power of His Holy Spirit. 

His presence will bring inner peace which will lead to outer purpose.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30,

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely & lightly.”

This is taken from The Message and is my favorite version of this passage from Jesus. I love that Jesus says - walk with me and work with me. Walk with Jesus daily. Work with Jesus daily. Remain in Him. Abide in Him. 

When we abide, He will revive.

In John 15, Jesus’ last words to His disciples are a reminder to “abide” or “remain” in Him. “Remain in me, and I in you for apart from me, you can do nothing.” This passage has become a life passage and theme for me over the past seven years.

7 years ago, I left my corporate job to start staying home with our three kids. I had a baby, a toddler, and a preschooler. It was the hardest season of my life - I still had to work part-time from home to make ends meet so I would wake up at 5am and work for a couple hours before the kids got up, stayed home taking care of the house and kids all day, and then would log in 3-4 evenings a week as well to finish getting my hours in for the week to help with our gas and grocery bills. 

I left managing successful projects and people to chasing around two crazy little boys (my toddler and preschooler) oftentimes while nursing the baby (our little girl). I became a pro at “nursing on the go” - this happens when you are a mom of multiples. I can scarcely remember those days - I was absolutely exhausted.

But despite the exhaustion and in the middle of the chaos, I do remember JOY.

I remember joy and freedom because the Lord broke through in that season of my life in such a beautiful, incredible way and my life has never been the same. My relationship with Him was revived - reborn.

And this is where Revive was born.

This is why you are here - because the Lord has been working, preparing, gathering each of us together for such a time as this. He began preparing me almost 7 years ago for this very moment - this very event - this very message. The Holy Spirit breathed life back into my mind, body, and soul - He revived me.

And out of that revival, He has led me and my sisters on this journey to remind other women of the revival, the restoration, that He offers us through a deeply personal and intimate relationship.

As the years have passed since I turned 30, I look back at that time period - that revival of a close, intimate relationship with God - as a huge turning point in my life. A spiritual marker. 

I have been a believer my whole life (I remember asking Jesus into my heart at age 4) and I had loved the Lord, served Him, and been in multiple leadership roles within my church, youth group, summer camp, and college - His Holy Spirit was alive within me and my relationship with Him was deeply intimate and personal. 

But after I graduated from college, got married, and began a life “on my own” out in the world - I experienced a time of spiritual drought. I was focused on my marriage, my career, and then we started having babies and I was learning this new role of being a mom while still juggling a full-time career, house, and husband. We attended church on Sundays and I attended a women’s Bible Study but I wasn’t truly “walking with Jesus daily”. I didn’t really crack open my Bible much - there was no such thing as podcasts back then. I didn’t even have a Smart Phone with easy apps to click on to read or listen to Christian encouragement….

I went through this season of knowing I was saved, knowing my eternity was secure, loving God, but not living in a deep, intimate, relationship with God. I wasn’t “walking with Jesus daily”.

I wonder how many of us may be there right now?

We remember putting our faith and trust in Jesus at some point in our lives - perhaps we even grew up in the church, or attended a Christian college or we were involved in a Christian outreach or small group as a teenager or young adult, maybe we still occasionally attend church as an adult….but we can’t honestly say that we are in a close, intimate relationship with God. 

Our Bible lies on a shelf somewhere as a dusty remnant of our childhood. Our homes are filled with inspirational quotes and maybe even some Bible verses but our hearts are hollow and empty - unfulfilled. There is a void within us - our souls do not feel whole. 

You may be completely “right with God” - accepted the free gift of salvation that is offered through Jesus Christ - but you wouldn’t say you feel “close to God”. That decision - our closeness to God - is up to us. He’s there. He’s wanting to be in an enjoyable, deeply personal relationship with us - but have we allowed Him in?

My revival at age 30 - it was not about “coming back to the faith” after some sort of a prodigal season.

It was a “coming alive” within my very soul from coming close to God after a dry spiritual season -

I made the simple decision to ask the Holy Spirit to fill me.

A quiet decision. A simple prayer.

But my life was transformed from the inside out.

LOVE filled me. Love spilled out of me. Love defined me and drove me. It strengthened me and sustained me. Day by day. I fell back in love with Jesus - and like any young lover in a relationship, I couldn’t get enough! I had to BE with Him - spend time with Him, read about Him, learn about Him, talk about Him.

Jesus became REAL to me. My Lord and Savior, yes, but also my friend, my helper, the Shepherd of my soul…

my Waymaker through this wilderness of life.

I rededicated my life to the Lord at age 30, was baptized, and God gently spoke to me one day as I was in the bathroom getting ready to give my daughter a bath. Not an audible voice but a clear voice within my head and heart. I had been thinking about my women’s Bible Study and one of my favorite writers and speakers when I suddenly had the realization that I was meant to do that.

Write about Jesus. Teach about Jesus. Sing about Jesus. Tell others about Jesus. 

But as quickly as the thought came, I quickly dismissed it and thought - I could never do that.

I thought of the other women in my church, in my Bible Study, and I thought - how could I ever get up in front of them and share a message? I’m just a stay-at-home mom barely making ends meet - I don’t have the words, I don’t have the resources, I don’t have the right clothes... The excuses kept coming when I clearly heard the voice of God within my head and heart…

He said, “Feed my sheep”.

I stopped but then continued to make more silent excuses as I continued to get my daughter’s bath ready….

A second time, God said, “Feed my sheep”.

“Ok, Lord,” I said this time but then began to make my conditions known…”but only if…and only when…”

Then a final time, God said, “Feed my sheep”.

As the realization and significance of what God was saying to me, in the way He was saying it to me (like Jesus asking Peter when He called Him into ministry) dawned on me, I stopped, fell to my knees, and said, “Yes, Lord. I will feed Your sheep.”

And there by the bathtub with my one year old daughter, I began to glimpse what God had in store for me - ministry.

The ministry of motherhood - feeding God’s sheep began with caring for the little ones right in front of me within my home. And then that ministry would overflow from our home and into our church where I began a small group for other young moms and eventually that ministry overflowed into hosting our Revive Retreats with my sisters - writing, speaking, leading worship, and hosting in-person community events for women that would revive a deep, real, and intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ and reignite the work of the Holy Spirit within mind, body, and soul. 

Three stages of ministry. Home, church, community. 

Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep.

In John 10:2-4, Jesus said, “The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.” 

Do you hear His voice? Know His voice? Are you following His voice? Walking with Him daily?

Something that has helped me is our Rhythms for Revival Prayer Walk.

This Fall, I began walking with God and praying with God daily through our seven prayer rhythms (see previous blog articles: Release, Remember, Remain, Receive, Resist, Rehearse, and Rejoice!) - just a simple walk around my driveway and house - and I would pray through each of the seven rhythms out loud.

Seven rhythms, seven circles around my home - I felt like Joshua and the Israelites walking around Jericho once they finally reached the Promised Land at the end of their 40 year wilderness journey!

When I pray out loud through each rhythm, I can tangibly feel the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Being out in creation, just me and God, walking and releasing endorphins, and speaking so personally with the Creator of the Universe - by the end of my seventh circle, during the “Rejoice” rhythm, I usually burst out into song!

This habit is much easier in the warmer weather and I confess I got out of practice in the cold winter months but I have been continuing this practice again this spring because it is truly life-changing for me. I encourage you to do the same - walk with God, talk with God. Use these rhythms as a beginning point! 

Music and movement (bonus if you can incorporate these while being outside!) are incredibly powerful in stimulating growth and restoration within our mind, body, and soul. This is why we include both music and movement within our Revive Retreats.

Walk with Jesus Daily. Worship with Jesus Daily. WWJD.

To restore means to make all things new. 

To bring back or reestablish what has been lost. 

To refresh, update, revive.

Does your relationship with your Father God need to be restored, revived, through His Son, Jesus, our Waymaker?

All you need to do is ask. Invite Him in. Ask His Holy Spirit to fill you.

Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Restoration to God comes through His Son Jesus Christ, our Waymaker.

Revival comes through a daily walk with God - remaining in Him day by day and receiving His Holy Spirit.

When we look back at the Israelites in the wilderness after they were rescued and freed from captivity, they had to daily rely on God to not only lead them but also to provide food and water for them.

Manna, quail, water, and directions - these were all provided on a daily basis.

Blackaby and King write in their Bible Study Experiencing God,

“Nowhere does the Bible teach that God gives us a life plan and then abandons us to work it out. Rather, the pattern and emphasis in Scripture is a DAILY WALK with Him in which He gives new assignments and then works through us to accomplish them.”

They finish, “As long as we walk daily with Christ, we will always know where to be - right beside Him - and will always end up where He wants us to be. Jesus did not say: ‘I will give you the entire plan.’ ‘I will give you a road map.’ ‘I will tell you which direction to go and send you off.’ He did say, ‘I am the way’ (John 14:6).”

Jesus is our Waymaker.

Our Shepherd that restores us, leads us, and guides us by His voice - His Holy Spirit. He sent us the Holy Spirit so we are never alone and never without help, guidance, and His loving presence. Will you receive that today?

My friend Wendy says, “With Jesus, survival turns into revival”.

Will you walk with Him, work with Him, worship Him day by day as we walk through this wilderness of life? WWJD.

Note from Elizabeth:

At Revive Ministries, that is our heart for each and every one of you. Revive offers day retreats for women filled with music, movement, and messages of biblical hope to renew the mind, refresh the body, and restore the soul. We invite women to: (re)enter into a growing, intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ, (re)ignite the work of the Holy Spirit, and (re)engage in fellowship within the local community. We add the prefix “re” to each of these invitations because whether it is the first time or again and again and again - revival is possible. Hope and healing are possible. Because of Jesus, our Waymaker, there is a way that leads from survival to revival. We daily walk with the Holy Spirit.

Would you prayerfully consider becoming a Ministry Partner and support the Lord’s work through Revive Ministries? Give a gift today to support our mission to (re)ignite hope and healing within the hearts and homes of women within our community and beyond!