It’s that time again. Sid and I just arrived in Florida and we will be here until May. I’ve shared with you before how this schedule was never my plan. Yet over the past five years it has come to be, and with it new experiences, new relationships, more trust in HaShem.

It was completely counterintuitive that I could ever be away so long from my family and friends up north and my Ruach community. Perhaps the timing of Covid hitting at this same juncture in my life made the transition easier, for much of life became available remotely for those first several years. Now it remains a blessing that I can continue to work remotely, attend board meetings in this way, as well as  join Ruach services on Zoom.

So this year, as each year before this, on our long drive down I’ve asked God the same questions, “How can I serve? What is it that You want me to do here? Help me to know what is Your Will for me.” Interestingly, the answer this year was one which had been given to me generally a couple years ago. There are many stories, providential events, and affirmations that have reinforced the direction I’ve been leaning into as a result. Now it is specific to this place and time frame as well.

The answer has been music, to praise Him with song, with perhaps more time and intention than I have been doing until now especially while I’m in Florida.

Actually in this community there are many opportunities for musical expression. Last year I felt drawn in this way and without enough persistence was not able to accomplish my hope of introducing some Joshua Aaron and other praise songs to some members of our Bible study group. (That is a whole other miraculous story as our religiously diverse weekly gathering of Christians and Jews comes together now in person and all year by phone). So this year I was determined to try harder.

Two inexplicable synchronistic events this week brought together the very persons with whom I wanted to start this journey, so I knew I was on the right track. As I write this I can happily report that yesterday afternoon we praised Him with song and are exchanging music. It’s a beginning and I am excitedly waiting for what He will reveal to us next as His purposes for us.

We have no intention to perform publicly. We are just praying, singing, and making music, praising God with joyful sound. Yesterday as we did, the Ruach was palpable, and it’s just the beginning.

I am grateful this year to have taken more steps in the direction I’m being led and am reminded how difficult it is for each of us to do so. To hear Him we need quiet times and those are very hard to come by, especially in the midst of travel or life in general. Yet what can be more important than His speaking into our lives? I knew this year that I had to try harder, and He responded by “coincidentally” bringing those to me with whom I was to interact (running into each other in large parking lots, simultaneous chats to each other, in unusual ways) .

Our relationship with God through Yeshua is dynamic and palpably interactive if we do our part. When we listen with intent, we are reminded that He has a direction for each of us. So often, especially when we have many competing demands on our attention, we don’t take the time to ask Him, or we hear but don’t follow through, or we try and give up too easily. Yet when we recognize that living with God front and center in our life creates a vibrant interchange, not only does He bless our efforts with inexplicable evidences of His Presence, but He also provides us with the ability to do what we need to accomplish as well. This transformative ability happens because as we seek Him, we are reminded that it is not by our efforts that anything is accomplished, but rather, it is all through Him, for Him, and by Him through us. Life’s many challenges and demands become manageable for we let Him in to do so. Our burdens become His blessings.

That release of responsibility, that acknowledgment of His overarching and yet intimate participation in our lives, creates the right mentality in us to live lives overflowing with inexplicable capacity, far beyond that which we could imagine possible.

I love not knowing where I’m going or what I’m doing in the sense of planning these musical ventures, but rather, am enjoying the mystery and beauty of His care. I can rest in that and be pleasantly surprised with what I’m sure will be outcomes I could never foresee. He is there as the Master of our universe just waiting to be asked to be let in intimately each day.

“Hineini, here  I am.” Try it. Be persistent in your efforts. Listen. Pray. You will not be disappointed.

Shabbat shalom.

Diane