Do you ever find yourself listening to a song you’ve heard a hundred times before, yet somehow it hits you different? I happened to me twice this past weekend while at the BIG Life Hawaii Retreat.

I drove the Red Roxy Jeep which was a non-stop dance party everywhere we went. With the top off, the windows down, the music turned all the way up, and an occasional dancer hanging out the top, we were overflowing with joy riding all around the island of Oahu. At one point, everyone in the jeep shared their wedding song. Some of us have been married nearly 30 years and hadn’t heard the song since.

My wedding song was the 1994 “I Swear” by John Michael Montgomery. As an 18 year old girl in love, I sang every word, but I surely couldn’t have understood the words. Now, those words hit different. The line “And when there’s silver in your hair, you won’t have to ask if I still care. ‘Casue as time turns the page, my love won’t age at all.” And now, all these years of marriage later, there’s silver in our hair and I understand more how time turns the page, but love doesn’t age. I look at that hubby of mine with his silver beard, and my love for him is so much deeper than it ever could have been as teenagers getting married in our little country church.

The words of that song hit different with experience.

Now, the second song that hit different this weekend. It’s one we’ve all known since 2013. A song we each seem to have a personal connection and story with. Hillsong’s “Oceans”. I bet you too have a memory tied to this song and every time you hear it, it takes you right back. I’ve written so many devotionals on the words “You call me out upon the waters. The great unknown, where feet may fail. And there I find you in the mystery, in oceans deep, my faith will stand.”

What does this song mean to you? When did you hear it at just the right time? What deep waters did it carry you through?

I remember it playing in my best friend Catina’s hospital room and at her funeral. I remember turning it on for my Daddy in the final hours of his life when the veil between heaven and earth grew so thin and he saw Jesus. And now, I add to the precious and priceless moments I sang this song, in a mountaintop worship experience.

On Sunday morning, we left our retreat house here on the North Shores of Oahu at 4:30 am, and drove to Waikiki to climb the world famous Diamond Head Crater. We climbed as the sun peaked up over the ocean and sent it’s rays of lights through the clouds and across the waters. Then, when all 13 of us were standing on the very top, we sang that familiar song, “Oceans”.

Our voices were loud and powerful and our worship could be heard over the entire mountain. And then the words hit me different. Words I have sang hundreds of times before, but now with time and experience, they mean so much more.

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

What are the borders on your trust? Where have you drawn lines that say you will trust God with this, but not that? What have you unknowingly set as off limits, declaring as impossible in your own life?

Now, the Spirit of God is leading you to those lines and calling you beyond them. He’s prompting you to walk on waters you have been too afraid to step into. He’s guiding you to an encounter with him that is outside of your borders, into the unknown, the deep, and the uncontrollable.

Do those words hit you different now? Different because over the years of singing this song, you have experienced hardship and trials, loss and struggles, and through it all, God has proven himself faithful. He has shown you how he will turn what the enemy intended for harm into good. He will use your experiences to impact and save lives.

Yes, those words hit different now.

Over the past 10 years with this song, we have seen God’s faithfulness, now the borders on our trust must come down. We must go beyond our limits and willingly step into the impossible with our mighty and powerful God.

All these experiences have made our faith stronger. God has been building us to take us deeper. Now, my sister, let’s not stay in the shallows. Let’s tear down any final borders on our trust and go all-in with God. We’re back to that radical obedience we’ve been talking about all month. Back to responding to every prompting of God without reasoning or understanding.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

This is the journey God has been taking you and I on. A journey of trusting with ALL our heart. This is a trust that has no borders or boundaries. A life that has no off-limits signs to God.

If I’m being 100% honest, I find myself holding back a few of the most precious areas of my life. I’m afraid if I fully surrender that which I hold most dear, God will come in and mess it up. God will ruin it. Take it away from me.

And really, that’s totally ridiculous.

Do you too struggle with this? Even on a subconscious level, we create borders on our trust and put up our off-limits signs. And when we do, we aren’t really protecting that area of our life as we think we are, we are limiting it.

God has good plans for you that you simply can’t imagine. He has immeasurably more specifically for you, but you miss the immeasurably more when you allow these borders on your trust. It’s easy for us to say we trust God with everything, while we continually try to maintain control and contort things to fit into our plans.

But God has been working on you, hasn’t he? He’s invested so much into you to show you he can be fully trusted without your understanding. Now, he’s calling you to the next level of faith where your trust has no borders, where you will walk upon the waters where he may call you. Where he takes you deeper than you’ve ever been before, and your faith becomes stronger.

So, here’s the exercise for today: Make a list of any challenges you’re currently facing. Any unknown situations. Any uncertain next steps. List them, then beside each one, write the name of Jesus. Yes, Jesus for your struggling marriage. Jesus for your wayward child. Jesus for your uncertain future. Jesus for your finances. Jesus for your move. Jesus for your battle. Jesus for your addiction. Jesus for your heartache. Now, begin to praise God, focusing on Jesus and declaring the power of his name over your situation.

This is trust without borders. This is walking upon the waters, wherever he has called you. This is God taking you deeper than your feet have ever wandered, where your faith is being made stronger, in the presence of your savior. This is trusting the Lord with your whole heart instead of trusting your own understanding. And this is where only God can make your paths straight and lead you to greater things.

May absolutely NOTHING in your life be left behind the off-limits signs. May everything be fully placed in the capable and loving hands of God, and may you know you can trust in him completely with this and everything else!

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