Category: 1 - Let the Son Shine

I Didn't Get the Memo 01/28/2010

Sometimes, it really is all in the details.

I knew going into this whole obedience thing, that one day God would ask me to share more than the already less than comfy surface testimony He is working out in my life. One day was supposed to be blurry. So far in the future that I couldn't even see it clearly. Turns out one day is today. Today is one day, possible of many, that I would be asked to share the details.

God equips us for every good work. That's a fact. Nowhere in that promise does He say that we'll be prepared or even alerted. Good thing, because had I known what He had planned, I might have stayed home and hidden from the opportunity to do good. All difficult situations are opportunities to do good, but having a heads up brings with it the possibility of running away. Thankfully, I didn't get the memo that today was going to hold an opportunity I would have undoubtedly passed up. A cup I would have prayed God to let pass, instead of overflow.

Sitting at a table made to seat seven women in my moms' group, I felt like a complete reject among the empty chairs. Stepping into this role of table hostess in a ministry I love dearly wasn't a comfortable act of obedience as it was, but when only two ladies sat with me, I felt like I was the reason people stayed away. Even when you're beating yourself up, thinking of yourself too much is thinking too much of yourself. I know that. I just forget that I know that. Content in my pity party, balloons and all, I wondered what it was about me that kept them away.

It wasn't about me. Big shocker there. No, it was God that arranged the seating today. He just didn't need to let me know that until I could handle it with praise.

As I drove home, reflecting on one awesome speaker and one awesome time of discussion, the Lord revealed part of His plan and part of His awesomeness in Sovereignty. Each of the ladies at my table were predestined to sit together, to share together, to be encouraged together. All three of us.

Three seemed like such a small number at first glance. Now I am amazed at how our God worked in, on, and through THREE women at one tiny table, this morning! We each needed to hear that God is in control. In our own ways, we needed that covering of Truth. We also needed the details that lie underneath. Sharing first, the overall way that Christ has been at work, then getting deeper into the ways we need to stop our own ideas of what needs to be worked on, things felt really fruitful and wonderful. The intimate setting allowed for digging into matters and for opening up those hidden parts that want to be ignored in us. It also made way for a very personal exchange after the group had dismissed.

Today, I shared some details. Details that once held me prisoner and now are part of the beautiful way in which the Lord saw fit to set me free. I'm humbled that they helped another sister in Christ. She was visibly encouraged in a way that encouraged me, but our Father didn't stop there! Her details were offered up as a means of growing me and filling me and refueling me in one of the areas of life I struggle with most right now. I left with a new gratitude and appreciation for the circumstance I'm so quick to feel defeated by. Hope pumped through each bit of me and I would have missed that had we not shared with one another.

God didn't send us the memo that today was in fact that one day we'd been secretly hoping might never come and instead He sent us a good and perfect gift in the details of our less than perfect lives!

You are Christ's body, that's who you are! 01/21/2010

3 Comment(s)

It's so funny what we do as children. I was in the 5th grade and preparing for a paper that I had to write on what I wanted to be when I grew up. I hate that. The pressure on children to decide their entire lives is just a waste of youth and it distracts from the fact that it is God who calls us to what we'll be. Being a mix between a free spirit and a perfectionist, this was really stressing me out. I was 11, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life other than love God and do good things. As the deadline approached, I prayed to God for the answer to that all too big question. I asked Him what I should be when I grew up and I heard Him say that I should be a doctor. From that day on, I was going to go to Duke University and be a doctor.

Well, as I grew older in years I lost sight of God and soon I was 16 and in college with 2 jobs and no faith to keep me going. After my aunt died, I had a breakdown of sorts and fast forward a couple of years and I was 18 and pregnant. What could have been disastrous was a miracle and I've been an at home mother since. I've never looked back and wished I had ended up being a doctor, but I've always wanted to have followed God's calling.

A few years ago I took a spiritual gifts assessment test and was actually surprised to see teaching was my strongest gift. I truly expected to see healing due to that moment with God, but teaching was the strongest by a landslide and I started to connect some dots. As far back as I can remember, I've been teaching of God's glory and on nonspiritual levels, as well. I've been a peer mediator and a tutor. I've led Bible classes for younger children and as a mother, my entire life is about teaching. I've been told time and again that I have a natural way with words that teaches people on a level they can grasp. Looking back, I see that knack for teaching is really a gift from above, just like all things good and perfect. It's a recurrent theme for a reason.
I'm being called to teach on a broader level.

We're all being called for something.

But what does that mean for the moment when God spoke to me? Well, that's the best part of my story! I discovered that in biblical times the word for "doctor" referred to those who were Spiritual teachers!

I'm just now beginning to embrace this spiritual destiny of mine, and I can't wait to fully live by my belief that God wants to act as a teacher through me. I've been taking baby steps, but I'm ready to leap and not worry about the confines of this world. The restrictions, the necessities, or the chance of failure. What are they when up against God?

Have you found your place in the body of Christ?
Have you opened the gift you were naturally given by the Spirit?
Have you answered His call?

1 Corinthians 12:27-30 paints the perfect picture of how we are each wonderfully made, and why we aren't all wired exactly the same.

You are Christ's body—that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything. You're familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his "body": apostles prophets teachers miracle workers healers helpers organizers those who pray in tongues.

But it's obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It's not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues.

I hope you'll take a closer look at your own God-given talents, and share some time with Him in prayer to find the pattern that points to what He is asking you to do with this life.

I'm praying for your journey!

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