Liminal Space: the simplest definition is “a transition” – but more specifically, the in-between time when one season ends and another begins.
It is a time of reflecting and also a time that can be filled with God or with impatience. A time to be still and hear, or a time to be numb, to try and move forward to what appears exciting, the next thing.
This mini debrief was full of liminal space as we transitioned as a squad from being apart to being together again, from being full to saying goodbye, from old things to new positions, from Cambodia to Africa.
God speaks in the liminal space as well as in the midst of a season. He prepares us in the in-between.
God decided to speak directly to my heart during some of the mundane things this debrief, and I was amazed to hear His voice in the midst of eating chocolate cake with a friend and then the next day eating Burger King at an airport.
You see, I had some areas on my heart that I didn’t understand. I knew the Lord was calling me out of things and into something new, into delighting in His commands and voice, a place of confident, joyful obedience. I just didn’t know where I was, so I didn’t know where I was going. I waited on the Lord to hear what He had to say, but there wasn’t a reply. I knew He would reveal it that day and thanked him, and then went about my day.
That afternoon I had time to myself and really wanted to skip that time so I could be at my next session. I didn’t really want to steward that time and wished it would pass fast, I remembered, though, that I had told a friend that we would hang out at a bakery, so I went to her room and we left for the bakery, even though I really wanted to check out until the next exciting thing. We walked to the bakery and shared a piece of chocolate cake and talked. It was as I was doing the mundane thing that the Lord began to speak and reveal the answers to questions I had been asking him that morning.
It was in the moment that I wanted to check out that the Lord began to fill the space with himself. He used the liminal space to speak.
