Was watching The Little Mermaid and midway through the movie I remember thinking,

“can we just get to the good part”. This was right when she had given up her voice(her

gift) for an earthly desire.

No sooner than the words left my mouth, I was asked, by the Holy Spirit, a very straight

forward question, “why don’t you just skip to the good part”. With honesty I responded,

“because I already know how it’s going to end. I already know what’s going to happen.” I

said that in response to what part of the movie I was on. I didn’t want to sit through Ariel

not being able to talk and through Eric and her building a relationship based off who she

was and not what identified her as special. And then things got quiet. There wasn’t a

response. But as the movie went on, my thoughts lingered. And I realized that my

statement was a reflection of how I operate with God.

How many of us can say that we have asked God to skip past the trial, past the

disappointment, past the figuring out, past the failing…and to get straight to the happy

ending? Often frustrated with having to “go through the process”, we find ourselves

asking if we can just skip the starting up, the mistakes, and the lessons that has to be

taught.

Go. Can I please just skip to the end where I am happy, healthy, and whole? Foolishly

forgetting that before something can end, it must first begin.

Ground Zero. The cute definition is…a starting point or base for some activity…which is

the definition I had in mind when God first began to whisper “ground zero” to me at the

beginning of this year. But then I went back to look at the definition again and to my

surprise there was another, not so cute definition. A site of devastation, disaster, or

violent attack. (Generally, the term ground zero is used in relation to earthquakes,

epidemics, and other disasters to mark the point of the most severe damage or

destruction.)

Imagine how unexcited I was to see that definition. Ha!

One thing I have learned profusely is that the word always stings you first. And I

imagine it’s because of whose DNA we share. In order for us to believe that we were

healed by his stripes, Jesus had to take the beaten first. So please trust and know that I

was not ready to for ground zero to be exposed nor ministered to me in no shape, form,

or fashion.

Picture painted yet? Cool. Let’s jump into the word and talk about Job for a second.

We can collectively agree that 1. Job was living out both the good and ugly side of

ground zero based off the definition. And 2. Starting at ground zero ain’t that bad when

your faith is in the master builder.

The part that gets me the most is the fact that God chose Job to be torn down because

he knew that he could withstand what was required for him to be built back up. Even

when Job didn’t think so himself.

How many of us have forfeited the possibility of restoration because we have gotten so

far ahead that it would be foolish of us to allow someone to start us back at square one,

or ground zero?

How many times have God chose us specifically to rebuild but because we were so

prideful in how far we had come we have told ourselves that surely God wouldn’t take it

all.

Let’s get personal.

So when I was first given the instruction to move to Texas, I was told to leave everything

in Memphis. Literally E V E R Y T H I N G. Down to my car. (insert buck eye, cause

God, WHAT!) A year in Texas with no car and no means to get a car. A year of listening

to people tell me how foolish I was for taking my car back. I was even offered help to get

a car…and the Holy Spirit rose up in me and I gracefully declined.(that probably stung

the worst. Ha!). God stood firm on what he told me to do and made sure no one got in

the way of that. Was instructed to start a new career in property management and with

my first commission, that I wasn’t expecting by the way, because I was told I wouldn’t

get because I had only been with the company for 2 months. There was divine delay

that God caused caused with the move-ins that ultimately pushed back the commission

time frame to fit the number of months required for me to be eligible for a $6k

commission check that lead to me putting down on a vehicle that required only 1 co-

signer…and his name was Jesus.

Cute story, right? Wrong! That was a tough time that required me to be tore down and

divinely built up. I was in no way shape, form, or fashion able to “skip to the good part”.

So my question is, can you trust him enough to allow him to build you up from ground

zero? Can you trust him enough to believe what He spoken to you while having faith in

the tearing down and the building up that it will take for you to get to where He has

called you?

I have often asked myself what made Job so special that God would allow everything to

be stripped away from him down to his health just to give it all back to him, but double.

Mind blowing!! What manner of man has this much faith in His creation that he knows

who can be trusted with a victory and who can not! And by the way Job’s friends were

believers. But yet and still they all tried to get Job to forfeit the unspoken promise, curse

God, and die.

Sidebar: Be sure that you surround yourself with friends and family that understands

and has some sort of deep reverence to the power of God to know when He is doing a

thing that will require you, fleshly you, to be tore down so that He can rebuild the you

that was created in his image from ground zero. And instead of saying you must’ve did

this to get to that..their ears are at the heart of God and they can recognize when God is

testing you through the fire and have faith in you coming out as pure as gold.

Let’s not ask God to skip to the “good part”. There is grace in starting from ground zero.

This is not the time to rebuke the building up nor the season to question before moving.

But the season for you to move and if you have questions..ask them while you are

moving. It is your obedience that will interrupt the mission of hell and you ultimately

being so sold out for God that you’re not clinging on to the stuff of the world in such a

way that you can’t drop it for his glory. It’s allowing for the platform to be stripped away

from you and being okay with it and allowing God to build your foundation in Him.

Moving to Texas was my ground zero. I wasn’t able to just “skip to the good part.” No. I

had to trust that God knew what He was doing with me and through me.