Trust, Adventure, & How God Speaks to Me through Disney Movies

A God Who Speaks

How does God speak to you? In what creative ways do you find Him pursuing you and meeting with you right where you are?  What ordinary things in your life does He use to impart truth, to challenge and to encourage you?

For me, one of those ways is movies – especially Disney movies! Our God is the Master Storyteller, the one who created us to love, enjoy, and appreciate the arts, so should it really surprise us when He shows up speaking to us in the middle of the story? Furthermore, I find many times that those are the moments that stick with me over the years, the ones where He takes a simple line, scene or a song from a movie and speaks straight to my heart and soul through it. Today, I’ll be taking a look at a movie that has been meaningful to me over the past few years – Aladdin!

Aladdin

Aladdin shows up on Jasmine’s balcony with a magic carpet and asks the question, “Do you trust me?” before he takes her on a magic carpet ride all over the world. (Oops – spoiler alert! If you somehow managed to live through the 90’s without seeing this iconic scene – or you just love it as much as I do – Click Here – Aladdin.)

The Lord used this scene in the beginning of 2012 when I was really wrestling through some hard stuff and really questioning Him about the circumstances of my life and how it was playing out so differently from how I had thought it would. I remember so vividly how it happened! I was sitting on the floor by the couch in my parent’s living room just pouring my heart out to Him through my journal, when all of a sudden this scene started playing in my mind!

However, instead of it being Aladdin and Jasmine, it was the Lord on the magic carpet, holding out His hand to me asking, “Do you trust me?” It was a very powerful and life-changing moment for me! I knew then that I had a choice to make:

Was I going to stay where I was, in the safety of my “palace,” feet firmly planted on the ground still demanding answers and wanting guarantees before I agreed to join Him?

OR

Was I going to choose to reach out in faith, take His hand in trust and join Him for the ride of a lifetime?

Lessons That Stick With You

Six years later, what I am learning is that this choice (as much as I’d like it to be) is NOT a one-time deal! It’s a day by day, month by month, year by year type of choice. And some days, it could even be an hour by hour or minute by minute choice! Every day that we wake up, you have a choice to make.

In the midst of all this, the cool thing that I have learned over the years is that each time that I choose to step up and step out in faith and trust, is that God is FAITHFUL to meet me there!! And as I live each day with Him, we develop a history and a relationship together!

This is absolutely crucial because when I find myself in one of those painful, gut-wrenching, “I DON’T UNDERSTAND” moments, it is because of our history together and His track record of faithfulness, that I am able to stand, trust and proclaim my praise. Because sometimes that’s all you’ve got. And I’m learning that that’s okay.

And then, there are those times where He just blows your mind with blessings upon blessings and you find yourself feeling so humbled and just in awe of everything that He has done and is doing.

Both are parts of life. We can’t have one without the other and we are equally beloved in both. Our identity doesn’t change with our circumstances! NO. Instead, our identity is in and rests upon the never changing character of our fully trustworthy God.

God Speaks in Marvelous Ways

God speaks in so many ways, and He does so to draw us out of our will and deeper into His way. What about you? Do you, like me, find that you like your safe palace and all the answers – while at the same time longing for the boldness, guts, and courage that it would take for you to climb onto that magic carpet and go for a ride? If so, take a moment to reflect on these questions!

• What does your palace, your comfort, look like?
• What are you still demanding answers or guarantees for?
• What would stepping out in trust look like for you this week?
• How does God speak to you?
• Is there a pocket of time you can set aside this week to wrestle with these questions – is a magic carpet ride with God worth it?!

Spending time with God, giving things over to Him, and trying things for Him as a small step of trust can all be started in small increments. It doesn’t have to be anything big or extravagant, it might be something that looks incredibly simple, but you and the Lord both know what a bid deal that choice or step of obedience would be. After all, I find that it’s usually that first step that’s one of the hardest for me to make!