Have you ever been in a situation where you feel Holy Spirit prompting you to share something with someone else? You’ll be going about your day, minding your own business or maybe you observe something and then this overwhelming sense of a need to share lands on you. It becomes something that is impossible to push aside or ignore. Your thoughts get consumed by it until you’ve delivered, said, or done what was prompted. Or maybe, you need to declare something about your own life that leaves you experiencing a raging case of heart palpitations coupled with a mild to severe case of nausea. Oh, how Holy Spirit speaks.
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There are times in life, especially Race life, where Holy Spirit prompts you to call someone to higher places. More often than not, this word is difficult to deliver because of the potential and high likelihood of hurting the individual. The consolation is that it’s a temporary hurt. When the word gets spoken, the deliverer gets overwhelmed with a sense of peace that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the prompting was of the Spirit.
I’ve had to deliver this sort of news to one of my squadmates that I love (I love them all by the way) and it nearly broke my heart. I watched someone I care deeply for crumple before my eyes because they knew that the words I spoke were from Holy Spirit. The hardest part is that I hurt right along with this individual. I could literally feel the pain and nearly balled myself. At the conclusion of the conversation I was thanked for my willingness to share because no one had spoken in such a way in order to call this person to greatness.
Fortunately, in that instance, the receiver knew that God was speaking through me. It becomes so much more challenging to deliver difficult thoughts when it is unclear how the individual might respond. Sometimes the relationship may turn sour, but I’ve learned it is worth it. I would rather be the person that my friends know I will be straight with them and call them out than be the enabler. On the flip side, I would rather be the person that others feel they can speak challenging yet accurate words to so as to always continue growing and becoming more like Jesus. It’s not a fun place to be but the relationships that withstand this sort of thing are the ones that last and will prove to be lifelong.
Welcome to feedback. Welcome to what the World Race requires of us. Welcome to what Jesus calls us to be for each other. This is what we are designed to do when we live and experience relationships like Jesus did with his disciples. A phrase that Racers are all too familiar with is feedback, both positive and constructive. I would not call it a favorite word in our jargon, but it is by far one of the most influential. Feedback…I see you.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14
