Going Up

Five people walk up to 5 elevator doors. Each individual person stands in front of a door and simultaneously they all pressed the up button. Door number three immediately opens up and the third person from the left walks in to press their respective floor number. "Going Up". The doors close. Four minutes go by and the last door on the end opens up, the fifth person walks in, presses their intended floor number. "Going Up". The doors close. This process repeated for hours, days, weeks and years until finally the second door from the left finally opened up. The last person out of the 5 original people stepped in and pressed a button to a floor. "Going Up" The doors close. Question, why didn't they all get in the elevator with the first person, instead of waiting for the door in front of them to open? Answer, each elevator that opened had a person capacity limit of one. Growing up, as we all did, I associated popularity with how many people called you friend. I can’t imagine a time where I didn’t want a big circle. People who I could walk down the halls with, match outfits with and eventually experience all life had to offer together. But then...life actually happened.

It all started with me choosing to go to school out of state. I was looked at crazy but something was calling me to get out of Virginia. I had been a toxic situationship, half my friend group was being too grown for my liking and for some odd reason I had this yearning to "start over".

Get out of the baseline. Very early on I was a following a mindset that I didn’t adopt for myself until years later. That mindset was in order for me to elevate some people had to be left behind. And I used to apologize for it but now I accept that if I truly mean what I say when I ask God to take control over my life, I have to let him drive. Swerving out the parking lot with no one else in the car but me and Him.

I fell back into the same cycle four years ago. To make a long story short, I felt like I wasn’t surrounded around the appropriate people to push me to where God wanted me to be. I loved them as people, and I’m still grateful for the memories made but it becomes a point where you have to choose. And the choice is hard when it’s not their fault. “It’s not you, it’s me”. It really wasn’t you...and it was wholeheartedly me. You know what I’m talking about. That vision you see for yourself, claiming God’s victory over your life for the small things eventually turned big. That tunnel view of grabbing everything that you were destined to be, getting in that organization, assuming that position or wanting to put your time towards purpose than partying. It made perfect sense but to others it was senseless and you spent more time explaining your decisions than actually experiencing. I can’t speak for everyone but that was me.

It’s lonely at the top. And I’m nowhere near my mountain top, but the journey uphill has revealed some things to me. Have you ever noticed that the closer you get to where God’s called you to be, the amount of people around you gets smaller and smaller? In fact, it really feels like God is making room for you... and only you. But why? Proverbs 13:20 says “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed” Now, I’m not calling anyone a fool, however, this scripture says a lot about God’s thoughts on who you hang around. Influence can kill and it has. Even more so, once you completely surrender to his guidance He will create the rules of who gets to come in and out of your life. That's the deal. I'm not saying I like it nor am I happy about it. His goal is to transform and sanctify you and that isn’t to say He has no intention of doing that for your friends but you have to realize that where you are going other people might not be called there. Hence the number of people around you getting smaller and smaller.

Pastor Michael Todd at Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma finished a series over the summer entitled Marked. In essence, he talked about how we are all marked/called by God to do or be something for an existing void in the world. What was troubling to me was that just as you are marked/called by God to do His work, you can be equally canceled and your assignment be reassigned to someone else. Simply put, you disqualified yourself potentially without even knowing it. I bring this up because one of the ways Pastor Mike said someone could disqualify themself was the act of taking something into their own hands through the story of Saul. In the context of this blog, I thought about it like this... how many times have you fell off with a friend, haven’t spoken to your ex in some time or was faced with something you prayed would go away- did you engage in an attempt to fix, try or see where it goes. I know I have. Looking for a temporary fix for something that God was trying to permanently kill and you think there’s something worth saving. Point #1; leave the dead where it is.

By the time I graduated college I honestly had 3 friends. In retrospect, I never could hear God as loud as I could now. When before I would strain to tell the difference between my whisper, the devil’s yelling and God’s calming voice. Was it a result of “cutting” people off? Not directly by me but it was an indirect outcome of my pursuit after God’s heart. “You’ve changed”, “you don’t come around any more” and my personal favorite “oh, you think you better than everybody”. It’s annoying, to say the least, to hear these words from people who routed for me, to even do the things I’m putting my time into. I.e. this Blog. It’s funny how that works. Everybody wants you to win until it doesn’t include them in the victory lap. I had to learn the hard way. Point #2 There’s a reason why people hunt to shoot down eagles but like to feed pigeons. Let’s think about that one. I’ve accepted that every congratulation won’t be genuine or the support shown behind closed doors is actually people hating. I’m not after the validation of this world nor from the people in it. Everything I do and will be called to is from my Lord himself because that is who I want to please. Point #3 seek to please Him and not them. Going Up. Wait for your elevator, and check the capacity because often times it can only carry you and only you. I am thankful in this season and you should be too. Catch us every other Friday at 8 pm EST Follow us on Instagram! @workingirlblog Subscribe to our email list! Comment, Like and Submit any topics you would like to be talked about via our contact us page.