How many times has God tried to position you to receive what He has for you and you have rebelled and fought Him? And yet He is STILL patiently waiting and guiding you to your destiny. Some will not hang with you through this change. He always will. God is patient!
I cannot tell you how many different ways this spoke to me. There have been so many times I have felt led to do more for God. I am not sure yet what that "more" is but every time I get close, I get afraid. I am afraid of a lot of things (and that may come as a big shock to some of you) but I think the biggest thing I am afraid of is missing out on something better. That has been the root of so many of my issues over the course of my life. Changing jobs, changing majors, changing schools, changing careers, changing living locations, changing churches and ultimately, changing marital statuses. I guess somewhere deep down, for some reason, I always felt there was something better, something more that was just out of my reach. Many times I didn't realize what the "more" was and the few times I was close to it, I was once again afraid that I would have to give up something better to get it.
Many years ago, my family attended a local baptist church and I got very involved in the children's ministry. When the children's pastor decided to leave and accept a position out of state, my name was immediately put up as a candidate for interim director. But at the time I was desperately trying to live in both worlds because my husband was not saved. I disclosed on my blog at the time about drinking alcohol on occassion. It was read by the wrong person and long story short, instead of doing the biblical thing and coming to talk to me about it, the information was forwarded to my pastor. You may or may not know that many churches but particularly baptist churches take a dim view of alcohol consumption and so I was asked to withdraw my name from consideration. I did but I was so hurt that my family and I left the church.
In hindsight, I realize that I did exercise some bad judgment about the entire situation--the drinking, writing about it publicly and my reaction. But what bothers me most now is how close I was to stepping up to do something God really needed me to do at the time--minister to children--and I ran from it. I was not willing to "take my lumps" and ultimately receive what He had for me. Instead, I let Satan have the victory. And it wouldn't be the last time. Shamefully, I admit, I probably still haven't experienced the last time. But God is patient.
Where humans have to grow and be trained in levels of patience, God does not.
God places us in situations that train us. I often fail at first but I think finally, maybe, I'm starting to see that and learn from it. Hey, us old dogs can learn new tricks, it just takes us a bit longer!
And because God is patient, we get to experience everything else God is! Wow! What truth there is in that statement.
As Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 1:12-16, he (Paul) is a demonstration of the patience of God. No one had a greater sin resume than Paul. We all have our own sin resumes and what we need to do is stop looking at others' and look at our own. Alcohol may not be a good thing. Neither is stuffing your face at the church picnic! God looks on ALL sin the same. But that's a topic for another time. The point is, Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that:
- Christ came to save sinners (which we ALL are)
- While it's a miracle that we are born, it's a bigger miracle that we are born again!
- God will ALWAYS outmove the enemy. While the enemy may have had a very big hand in destroying my marriage, God has another move for me. And I can't wait to see what it is (He's already made some small moves that are better, but I know He has a few more "checks" before the "checkmate" which is when I will finally see Jesus Christ face to face!
- Christ changes us. First He justifies us (Ephesians 1:13) by saving us when we first accept Him as our savior and then He sanctifies us (2 Thess. 1:13) which is the process by which we become more and more like Him every day that we surrender to His will.
- Christ considers US and puts US in services. He uses us for His glory.
Don't let the enemy rob you of your destiny by causing you to downplay your current location! You may have made some mistakes. You may have run from where God tried to put you. I know I have! But guess what? He is way more stubborn than you or I! He will ultimately get His way. We get to choose whether we make it easy on ourselves or hard on ourselves but even if we choose the hard roads, God will still use those and bring us to our destination!
You haven't been cheated; you have been chosen. Maybe had I not made the mistakes I did, my life would have been different. Well, I'm quite certain it would have been. But it wouldn't necessarily have been better. There is nothing better than living for God, no matter how we come to do it.
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