"When you know, you KNOW!"

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

I have some really good advice! Whenever anyone asks for advice on anything, I feel like my answer is the same. It applies to advice about friends and when to make the next big career move. It answers the question of what dress to wear and it is singlehandedly my favorite piece of advice about the big four letter word...LOVE! The truth is, "when you know, you KNOW." 

My advice means exactly that, something in your heart will let you know, when you need to know. You cannot force an answer, or an experience, or a relationship. You cannot, on your own, will these things into existence. And I feel like in the same aspect, these things will not pass you by without some sort of inclination to embrace them. 

Take for example love, one of the more clear examples of this advice. I feel, and insist on telling my friends, that when you are in love, when you find "the one", you will know! I do not think some sort of trumpets will blare or fireworks will start erupting in the sky, maybe for you they will, but when I refer to this knowing, I think I understand it more as a feeling of peace in your heart. Something in you will just be at ease, and suddenly things will start to just fit. See our hearts tell us alot, and when they know it is hard to tell them otherwise. I think when you are in love, it is not really a question anymore. You do not wonder what it might be like with someone else or analyze how, or why, your heart feels that way.  You just know it and nothing else is going to change that. Have you ever tried to tell someone who is in love to get out of it? It does not work. They know, and that is the final say. They cannot plan or plot it and it would not sneak by them without them being aware. It is just one of those things, YOU KNOW. 

The other day I realized I was giving myself the advice above. I had heard this most beautiful talk about rising up to the mission God is calling us to! I was on fire and so inspired. I wanted to rise up. As we moved into a time of prayer, I started to get so anxious. My heart started racing and my mind was searching. I was begging with God, saying, "show me the mission you want me to rise up to"!

 But  I was feeling no call.  I began to panic. How could I rise up to a mission when I cannot even figure out what that mission is? I started to throw out random possibilities for who God was calling me to be, but they did not fit. What was wrong with me? Why could I not hear this call to rise? 

Then suddenly I heard in my mind my own advice, "when you know, you know". I heard God saying over and over, "rest in me, rest in me." And then, as my heart settled in the peace of these words, I discovered that in all things, when you know, maybe it is not because you as an individual know, but because God reveals to you what you should know. 

I was struggling so hard to find some sort of call but the reality was, maybe God wanted nothing more than for me to wait on Him. I was worried that I was missing something, but God is bigger than that, and if I am seeking Him, He will find a way to get through to me. I was being so paranoid that if I did not find something now to rise up to, then maybe I never would. But God has this way of showing us what we need to know,  when we need to know it and in that way, I think that what I am referring to as the peace in knowing is really the peace of the Holy Spirit. When our hearts align with the will of Christ, nothing can change that. There is a calm in hearing the call of God and trusting in it. Suddenly everything makes sense, and there is such a sureness in your heart. I cannot tell you when or where or how God will reveal His plans for your mission to you. But I can tell you this, when He does you will know, so do not be afraid of missing it. 

My mind was telling me, I had to know now what God wanted me to do! But God is gentle and He reveals things to us slowly. The fact that there was nothing KNOWN to me that night does not mean God has nothing amazing planned for me or even that He was not showing me pieces of those plans in that very second. But, what it does mean is that all I needed to know for sure was, He was working on the plan and I could trust in that. I know for certain, when He needs me to rise, He will tell me! 

You cannot force things. You cannot force love, or happiness, or the will of God. But you can discover these things, when you trust God to reveal them to you. You may KNOW today. You may KNOW a year from now. You may not KNOW until you are ninety-nine. But when you KNOW, you will KNOW. And my best advice to follow that up, trust what God lets you know! His plans will not ever let you down!