5 Ways To Recognize When God Is Shifting You Into the Next Thing.

Yesterday I woke up to thirty-one. As a naturally introspective person, especially reflective on my birthday, I decided to write this long overdue post (emphasis on long). This last year has been a whirlwind and I mean that with a joyful heart. I became a mother of two, traded in my Lexus for a compact car and left my job at NASA because God told me to.
I'm reminded of the part of my story where my husband told me, in my 9th month of pregnancy with our oldest son, that God told him to leave his very well paying corporate job to start a business as a strength and conditioning coach. In my spirit I knew he was indeed being led by God because let's be honest, not many people leave their jobs in finance to be a personal trainer. But there was a piece of me that still wasn't sure how this "God told me to" stuff worked. What I later began to understand was that what God has for you won't look like what "you have" planned for yourself. Those plans you've created will help you on the journey that God will launch you into but it will more than likely look totally different than what you imagined.
By 31 I imagined that my life would look a LOT different. I thought we would be [back] in a house, with money oozing out of our ears, halfway done paying off student loans; I imagined a life inside the box of comfort and within the walls of security.
I'm a free spirit by personality yet too much of a planner to be a risk taker. The staircase has to be built, tested and proven to be standing sturdy before I even think to take the first step. With that being said you should go back to the last sentence in the first paragraph of this post and drop your jaw.
Perhaps you are the worlds scariest and faith lacking person that you know. You, like me, can have HUGE faith in what God can do for everyone else but you view yourself through a very narrow peep hole that cancels you out of those stories you only read about. Maybe you have been feeling something in your spirit pushing you to LEAP and exit the stage but you aren't sure if you are being spirit led or if you are just up in your feelings.
After a year on this journey of watching God bring this faith leap full circle here are 5 ways to recognize when God is shifting you into the "next thing":

1. The feeling

I felt stuck. And some days I felt trapped. Other days I would feel overwhelmed by the fact that I felt stuck which would make me feel anxious, which would make me want to make a decision that I knew God didn't tell me to make. So I attempted to feed my spirit with messages about contentment while pumping myself up with the book of Jeremiah. I could hear God in my spirit saying don't get too comfortable. And of course I was very comfortable. I had a great job, amazing bosses, interesting coworkers; I mean really, I worked at NASA but every day I would randomly hear in my spirit "don't get too comfortable." They were words that brought me comfort but also made me nervous because if I shouldn't get comfortable what's the next thing in store? If you spend any time with God you know that He doesn't need a side kick but being a side kick is one of my greatest assets ;) so instead of being excited and being STILL, I started to CREATE MY own version of the next thing. I interviewed with an organization I labeled my dream job. I went through 4 interviews and got rejected. The rejection brought me back to God like, I'm trying to be proactive because faith without works is dead, you know. My resume is the job description completely, so I don't understand why I didn't get that job. In my spirit I heard stop searching and be still but don't get too comfortable...

2. The sign

As if 29 wasn't the year of all years, here comes year thirty with another stretching season. Hearing all of this after getting pregnant with Cole, in my 8th month of pregnancy, I receive a sign. My desk at work faced an open doorway. NASA places safety as a top priority so safety checks in the office are constantly being done. I left work one afternoon and when I came back the next morning, I sat down and immediately I notice something different about the doorway. It was so funny yet eerie to me, I took a picture of it. Someone, during their walk through, decided the doorway needed an EXIT sign. Honestly, it's the only way to go out in that area so I literally did a side eye when I saw it. I had been sharing what I was feeling in my spirit with my friend Marie so she was the person I sent the picture to. My text was something along the lines of, "lol God is trying to tell me something" but honestly I wasn't laughing. My eyes were wide open and I instantly knew that this was a message from God. My friends who walk in the spirit told me "girl go NOW" but whenever I prayed on the decision I had a huge feeling of peace telling me it's not time. So I would tell people God hasn't released me yet and that was the truth, he hadn't.

I thought about that exit sign often. It was the hottest topic with wide eyes and many girlllllll comments between Marie and I for months. I've always prayed that I wouldn't be like Jim Carey in Bruce Almighty where I ask for a sign and God has sent me ten. We must sharpen our spirits to pick up on those messages from God in the natural even if we "lol" at them. If we open ourselves up to the possibility of receiving a message from God (and not just the ones from another person who we believe has a better connection to God than we do) then we can see them with spiritual eyes and not our natural ones.

3. The question(s)

Listen, when God is shifting and preparing you for the next thing EVERYONE AND THEIR MOMMA will ask you questions like, shouldn't you be doing ____. Have you ever considered doing ____. You are really gifted at ____ why aren't you doing that? You have a ______ degree? What are you doing here? I can see you doing ______ have you ever thought about that? How long do you plan on being at _____? I have received enough questions about my life than I have answers because I have set my life up to be submitted to Gods plan even if I get in the way sometimes. If the spirit has placed something on your heart about something you see in me trust me I have asked, I have prayed, I have heard but I have not been released. It's hard to explain to people who you know aren't being spirit led with their questions (some people are just being nosey or messy) that you are living a spirit led life. In those instances I would shrug my shoulders and respond with a thank you, a yes I have or have not and keep it moving. But when you are getting these type of questions from people who move you to tears just standing in their presence because the anointing on their life is so strong (which I was) then you have to believe that God is using them to remind you to keep pressing. The questions bring life to the dialogue you (should have) already had with the Lord in private. Because of that, they will serve as another layer to the journey towards leaping.

4. The arrangement

God put me, the girl who hates math, in a place where people live off of math just to see the moon. It's cool on the surface but the arrangement made me giggle. Your (current) environment might not look anything like what you know God has purposed you to do. And let me tell you that arrangement becomes extremely frustrating especially after you've received the feeling, the sign, and the questions. You start to think YES! I'm so close and six months later, in the same spot where you started, you begin to lose heart because you don't feel like any progress has been made and that God has forgotten about you.
When I came back to work from maternity leave I was the floater. It was in that moment that I knew the leap was closer than I wanted it to be... I know. I just talked about losing heart and becoming discouraged but just because I was excited about God directing me doesn't mean that I was prepared for the WAY He was going to do it.
I know from my husband that when God says GO it doesn't look like an overflowing savings account, the next 10 steps mapped out and everyone around you shouting YOU GO GIRL! TAKE THAT LEAP. It will look like, but God I don't have enough money, God I don't know how we will take care of xyz, God everyone is saying I'm stupid, foolish, irresponsible for considering such a feat. The arrangement is important because you might feel lonely, isolated, set a part because you have been.
God knows the noise that comes with following Him. He knows that your momma nem' will trip out if they knew how unprepared (by the worlds standards) you are talking about you are leaving your job/city/country because God "told you to." But He also knew you before your momma nem' knew you and He knows you will be okay because He has prepared you for such a time as this.
I spent 8 months feeling like God was literally pushing me out the door. I had no time to get caught up in cliques, make new friends to miss or anything else that could serve as a distraction for what He was planning to do. He needed me to be obedient and free from any criticism, negative energy and other tricks of the enemy. Sometimes that means keeping your mouth shut, move accordingly and share what God has done at a later time.

5. The confirmation(s)

I had my own office and while that sounds like a basic thing to you I knew it was the curtains closing. In many businesses most people are in cubicles and only the high paid or very lucky ones end up in an office. In my position it was very rare to receive an office and when I got in there I cried because I knew it was the end. Some people work their entire career just to get an office and here I was not caring if I had a cardboard box or not and my final month I was blessed with my own space.

Before getting the office I had big drama happen; Something that had never happened in the 5 years I was there. I went to my car, extremely angry and I called Marie. I vent, we vent and afterwards she sends me a text. The text was the picture of the exit sign I sent her exactly a year before. The date was April 14, 2015 and her text says "I never noticed the date in the picture but look." In the picture I took, my outlook calendar was captured in the bottom left corner. It was April 18, 2014 when the exit sign arrived.
Listen, when I tell you that you better have some picture saving, dreaming in the spirit, elephant memory, stop whining and tighten up, I'm praying for you daily type of people in your circle (your immediate BFF type of circle), YOU BETTER. Although I had never forgotten what happened on the exit sign day I had no idea what was in the picture. I was 8 months pregnant and just trying to make it to May. But because God put it on my heart to share it with her, even though I found it "funny", a year later He used that friendship to remind me of something I needed in that moment of frustration and that was confirmation. That was the domino effect of everything that came afterwards.

In 2013, God put it on my heart to launch a marriage empowerment group for young marriages faced with tough seasons. He told me that Scott and I needed to serve as the encouragement for those couples who want to throw in the towel because having married at 22, we have pressed through some tough seasons. Instead of giving me time to procrastinate He told me to host a retreat. Before I had the opportunity to bail, I emailed 47 couples the who, what, when, where and why for the retreat.
While at the marriage retreat (yes it happened! God is amazing!) God told me to offer my services to Scott for the business. My heart was aching because I knew he needed help but what he needed I couldn't provide. But what I could provide I offered and shared what God had shared with me, at the retreat. The support was amazing and the encouragement overwhelming. It was in that moment that I began to see how God was going to thread this leap into one beautiful blanket.

God speaks to me through my dreams and in one dream in particular (short version) I was trying to get to my car but the street was pitch black. In my fear I kept asking my friends to walk with me but no one budged. In a hurry to get home I decide to walk in the dark on my own. As I begin to walk down the street, a strange man comes out to walk with me. I'm skeptical but at peace about his presence. With each step I took, a street light would light up. While interpreting the dream God immediately directed me to Psalm 119:105, your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Marie had a dream that I interpreted and the scripture that came out of the dream was Isaiah 43:2. The scripture was meant for her but I felt the Holy Spirit screaming it in my spirit. I wrote it on the white board in my office and it made more sense as the days rolled on and really confirmed what I was stepping in to.
Also in April, Tre began to cry on the way to school. He didn't feel uplifted and often felt discouraged because he was having more "bad days" than "good days." One morning he said mommy you go to my school and I will go to your work. He had never acted like that about school and had always loved learning (see Tres bookshelf). To make matters "worse" I pick Cole up from school and I'm met with the words, COLE TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS TODAY! Swallowing lumps and attempting to push out a genuine "yay", I felt a tug in my spirit whispering it's time to exit.

When I told my boss, a woman who had become my mother away from my mother, full of wisdom, tough love that felt so loving and a spirit of empowerment, her exact words were, "What took you so long?! I have been waiting for you to come in here and tell me this for years." Years ago she told me that she knew this was just a pass through for me so when she responded in that manner I knew God was in it all. Coworkers who I didn't know were believers began to speak into my life sharing things they had seen in me and the confidence and excitement they had for this next season of my life. My friends near and far poured so much positivity, prayers and prophesies for this next season: It. Was. BANANAS! One of my friends told me something I never considered but it made my heart leap. She said it's hard to be married to an entrepreneur and not be a risk taker yourself. Like I said, I never considered myself to be risky. As a matter of fact I'm the most UN RISKY (is that a word?) person I know. But how beautiful to hear God speak words through her that would not only shine a light on my season but also a trait I never considered myself of having. Wow!
If there was a way to go out THAT would be the way. I didn't have ONE negative/doubting comment made; it was as if the spirit of the Lord spoke through every person who crossed my path once the decision was final.
The confirmation will be wrapped in love. You will swallow it and your insides will feel warm stretching to your fingertips. Not a single doubt will penetrate your mind and you will walk in peace knowing that your steps are ordered.

Yes I was anxious about leaving. No I did not imagine being a stay at home mom. No I do not miss going to work. Yes I feel SO AT PEACE about where God has me. No I have NO IDEA what's next.
It's only been 3 weeks but when the next thing is here God will fill you up to the brim that His beauty and goodness will carry you even when you aren't sure if you can carry yourself.
I have cast my net into the deep. In the boat in the middle of sea. Eyes on God as He takes care of my needs...
LEAP!