“Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.”
‭‭The words of Jesus in Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭TPT‬‬

A few months ago I was standing behind someone wearing a sweatshirt with a design on the back. It felt strangely important to me so I took a photo.

After a few minutes of studying the design and text I realised that God was communicating to me through that sweatshirt! He was inviting me to go on adventures with Him. I didn’t know what He meant at the time. He also taught me about the adventures through that picture: looking from a distance I could easily see the destination of the path. I knew that it led to the trees and the mountains. However, once on the track I would find myself walking first in one direction and then the opposite direction, as the path twisted from side to side. I would wonder, as I so often do in life, if I missed the right path. I understood that the adventure that I was invited on would challenge me in this area.

Not long after, one Saturday morning, I felt God inviting me to walk with Him on a beautiful local walking track. How awesome! I expected to come back refreshed and on a spiritual high, having received life-changing revelations. However, I found myself suffering from an anxiety attack, hyperventilating and sitting on a bench as my head was swimming and I felt unsteady on my feet. I returned to the car, feeling like I had been let down. I was disappointed and drove home.

Why did God invite me on that walk if He wasn’t going to join me?

The same happened the next time that I walked with God. I was getting frustrated with God and doubting that I had heard His invitation correctly.

Over time I gradually started opening up to Him and sharing with Him that I didn’t believe He loved me enough to stay by my side for the whole journey. I also didn’t believe that He was motivated to just “be” with me. I confessed my deeply held belief that He expected our times together to be mostly focused on the things that He wanted me to do for others.

As I shared my true feelings with God I realised that He had been patiently waiting for me to be honest with Him. He already knew that those beliefs were inside me, but I needed those walks to bring them to the surface so that I could talk with Him about them.

Gradually, each week, I began to relax more. I started to look forward to getting in my car on a Saturday morning with my walking boots and my camera, not knowing where we were going until I started driving. I began to trust that God would stay with me the whole way, prompting me to “go here” or “turn there” or even “bring a flask of tea this time.”

We had some lovely, unexpected, adventures. Every one was different. Sometimes just walking without any talking, sometimes taking photos, sometimes sitting in my car and processing life with Him in my journal. My absolute favourite time was sitting on the water’s edge after an early morning walking and taking photos, drinking the tea that He had prompted me to bring. I watched two kingfishers diving over and over again into the water to feed their babies in the tree above me. I had no idea I would be doing that when I left the house that morning!

Ironically, learning to “just be” with God has increased my capacity to “do” the things that He asks me to do for other people. It has also increased the joy that I feel when I do them.

Nowadays, if I feel burdened, unmotivated, resentful, exhausted or empty I realise that I’m probably stuck in the “do” (or the “do do!!”) and it’s time to focus on “being.”

Do be do be do has become my new catchphrase!