Lay your head on the rock and wait.

10Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.12He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13There above it^c stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.^d 15I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19He called that place Bethel,^e though the city used to be called Luz."

Do you remember, as a kid, when you would go to tell your mom something that was SUPER exciting (you found an old toy, made a cool fort, or heard the funniest joke) and she would make you wait until she had finished her conversation to listen to you? Of course this was right for her to do, as you were the one who interrupted, but by the time she was finished, your excitement had diminished greatly and you no longer wanted to tell her the news. I can recall so many times growing up that that very thing happened to me, and boy did I get mad. I remember giving my mom the "silent treatment" a few times because I was so upset that I was not the center of attention the exact moment I felt I needed to be heard. I hated to wait, not knowing when she would listen (even though she ALWAYS did, and she listened so well), or when to give up trying. 

Well, as I write this, I feel like God is looking down and laughing, because this is exactly how we treat him on a daily basis. I must preface this by saying, if you're anything like me, you have experienced this a time or two. Certain opportunities in life will present themselves, and if they interest me in the least, I'm ready to dive in. For example, a friend of mine told me a few years back about an opportunity to work at a camp I had attended as a kid, and I was like "YES. this is going to be great, everything will work itself out. I will be a counselor and get to minister to kids", all that jazz. But God had different plans. A few weeks after that I heard about another opportunity to work at a camp in Missouri, and a day later an opportunity for a work position opened up at the Birmingham Zoo...Like hello, Ashlyn in a zoo....everyone knows that would be perfect...or working at a camp...she needs to get some of that energy out somehow. I desperately wanted to say yes to all of those opportunities, and actually began to, but the Lord said no. And I am so glad he did. 

In the passage above, we see Jacob traveling with a set destination in mind: he was going to get himself a wifey. And life would be great. However, toward the end of day one on his journey, the sun set and Jacob was forced to stop his trek for the night. And thank God he did. He was obedient to stop and wait until morning to continue his pursuit to Harran, but the Lord had bigger plans still. He gave Jacob a dream in which Jacob gained more than he was traveling for...he wanted a wife...he gained a whole kingdom...how? By stopping, waiting, and being faithful.

One of the continually-awesome things about God is that He often gives us more than we can fit onto one plate, or in two hands, or during one summer, or even in one lifetime. He presents us with SO many opportunities so that we can ultimately be drawn closer to Him, His love and grace and abounding mercies..however, sometimes we try to do everything at once, or we choose to pursue something that He isn't quite calling us to. And I can honestly say with all sincerity that when God closes a door that we had our eyes and hopes fixed on, He opens a window to something better than we could have ever imagined. By no means is this an easy process...I wanted to be that counselor, that zookeeper, that study abroad student, but the Lord said "no", at least for now. And honestly, it has humbled me and helped point me to seek Him first, and my own plans last. 

"Well that's great Ashlyn, but why are you saying all of this? Are you trying to brag because God has given you opportunities or are you trying to show me something different?" The answer is the second. I truly believe that if I had said yes to any of those opportunities at this point in my life, I would be worn thin and exhausted, because with school, babysitting and college life already on my plate, it would be hard to tack on even the smallest job or extracurricular. But I am telling you all of this to encourage you: sometimes our plans seem SO good, so promising and potentially-fulfilling, but as we know "it is the plans of the Lord that prevail." And, like Jacob, we are called to wait..."wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart." So does this mean that when I surrender my plans to be this and that, to do this or that or to go here and stay there, that the Lord will give me strength? Yes, I believe it with my whole heart. So if you find yourself in the in-between stage(s) of life and can see a light ahead, keep that light in mind but point your eyes upward. Look to God to be your compass, to guide your path and give you the direction he promises He will when we call upon His name. And further, be like Jacob. When the sun sets, when the door closes, and life just stops you in your tracks, take a second to stop...rest on the promises of the Lord, and He will answer you in a way you might never have imagined. Surrender your plans and trust in His, because they are SO much better than any we could imagine for ourselves. 

Lay your head on the rock and wait. Stay faithful, steadfast and abounding in joy, and He will provide. He is Jesus Christ, after all.