Sometimes life gives us a choice, and sometimes it doesn't. There are moments when we decide to leave something familiar because we know it is time. A job, a relationship, a career, a place we have lived for years, or even a version of ourselves that no longer fits.

 

Then there are other times when life makes the decision for us. Something ends, a door closes, a storm changes everything, and suddenly we are standing somewhere we never planned to be trying to figure out what comes next.

 

That's what I think about when I read the story of Abraham. God tells him, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 What stands out to me is what God doesn't give him. There is no detailed map, no explanation of every turn, and no guarantee that the road will be easy. He simply tells him to go.

 

That's where this song started.

 

           “Go...
            Leave it all behind
            Listen to your heart
           Just follow those signs.”

 

I think most of us want certainty before we move. We want God to show us exactly where we're going, what it will cost, how long it will take, and what will be waiting when we get there. Then we'll trust Him. But faith usually doesn't work that way.

 

Hebrews says,

 

           “By faith Abraham, when called to go... obeyed and went, even though he did not                      know where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8

 

I love that last part. He did not know where he was going, and he went anyway.

 

There have been times in my own life when I chose the next step, and other times when life pushed me into it. For a long time, I wasn't following God. Then life changed. I went through storms that forced me to look at everything differently, including where I was putting my faith and what I believed my life was supposed to be about.

 

Today, so much of what I do begins with faith, including writing these songs. I don't know exactly where all of this leads. I don't know who will hear them or what one song might mean to somebody I've never met. I just know I feel pulled to keep going.

 

That feeling became part of the first verse:

 

            “Familiar roads around me
             Every face, every door
             Had the life I thought I wanted
             Still felt there was somethin’ more.”

 

I think a lot of people know that feeling. Nothing may be obviously wrong. The job is still there. The house is still there. Life looks normal from the outside. But something inside keeps moving. A thought that won't leave. A prayer that keeps coming back. A feeling that there is something else you're supposed to do.

 

Sometimes it starts quietly.

 

               “The quiet started talking
                Louder every passing day
                Something out there pulling...
                It’s time to leave this place.”

 

I've watched people wrestle with decisions like that. I've seen people leave careers because they believed God was leading them somewhere else. I've heard people pray over decisions they were terrified to make. I've watched people step away from security without knowing exactly what the next season would look like.

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There is an important difference between faith and impulse. Faith isn't simply doing whatever we feel like doing and calling it God. Sometimes faith means praying longer, listening, waiting, seeking wisdom, and paying attention to whether the same direction keeps returning. But eventually there comes a point when asking for another sign can become another way of being afraid to take the step.

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That's why this line became so important to me:

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               “Sometimes faith begins with walking
                Before you ever know the way.”

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I think we sometimes imagine faith as confidence. I'm not sure it always is. Sometimes faith is being scared and walking anyway. Sometimes it is packing what you can carry and leaving the rest behind. Sometimes it is watching the familiar disappear behind you while part of your mind keeps whispering that you could still turn back.

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The bridge brings Abraham directly into the song:

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            “Abram didn’t know the ending
             Couldn’t see beyond that road
             Only knew the voice was calling
              Past the only life he’d known.”

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That part of his story feels incredibly human to me. He wasn't handed the ending. He was given the next step.

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             “Maybe faith ain’t having answers
              Maybe faith is letting go
              Taking one step toward the unknown...
              When all you really know is... GO.”

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There is anxiety in this song because leaving is anxious. The unknown is uncomfortable. Even when we believe God is leading us, we're still human. We wonder if we're making the right decision. We wonder what happens if things don't work out the way we imagined.

But by the end of the song, I wanted that anxiety to settle. Not because the destination finally becomes clear, but because maybe it never needed to be.

  

                   “I don’t need to see the ending
                    For once...
                    I don’t need to know...
                    I never needed to know.”

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That's where I think faith eventually takes us. Not to a place where we understand everything, but to a place where understanding everything is no longer required before we trust God enough to move.

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Sometimes God opens the door.

Sometimes life closes the one behind us.

Sometimes all we feel is a quiet nudge toward something we cannot completely explain.

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We pray.

We listen.

We seek wisdom.

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And eventually there comes a moment when standing still requires more fear than taking the next step.

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Maybe that's when faith simply says...

Go.