Reason #824
The truth is, it’s not always easy serving where God calls you. Sometimes, it appears fruitless. Sometimes it’s completely discouraging and I just want to give up and wave my white flag of surrender. But I have to remind myself that we serve God because He calls us to. We don’t serve for our own benefit or for any other selfish reason. We serve Him because He has entrusted us with such tasks. And I figure that at the end of the day, as long as we are obedient and the Lord is pleased with our service, that’s all that matters.
I’m sure I told you this before, but sometimes I like to go back and remember my past as it is an encouragement for the present. Sometimes, when I feel like I’m failing, I remind myself of God’s faithfulness and it gives me the hope I need to press on. Today the Lord took me back to January 2012. To the exact day He laid a calling on my heart that I never would have pursued otherwise. A calling that literally came out of the blue. It wasn’t anything that someone mentioned to me. I wasn’t anything I had been seeking out myself. It was the day I felt the Lord prompting me to write my story, and I began my blog. That was eight hundred and twenty three days ago.
I remember staying up late that night and typing out my first blog entry. It was short and to the point, just how I expected every entry to be. A little reason for gratitude each day. That’s what I had envisioned as I began writing. I never once doubted that I would be able to make it to 1000.. I did, however, wonder if I’d really have things worth writing about each day. I wondered if I could really come up with 1000 interesting things and not repeat myself a few hundred times. But I decided I would just let each day dictate my writing. I’d wait until the end of each day and see what God would teach me that day. I prayed so many mornings for a teachable spirit and an open heart so that I’d be able to see Him in every little thing, and that’s exactly what began to happen. In real life, everyday situations, the news, nature, food, gifts, celebrations, movies, songs, books, friendships, Scout, family, old memories… in everything I would see Him. I’d begin to look at something and think about how it reflected God. I’d search for some kind of parallel and God was ever so faithful to connect the dots for me each time. Never did He hide himself. After all, He promised that when we seek Him, we’d find Him, and God has been faithful to keep that promise each day.
A lot of different people have read my blog over the last 823 days. I’ve got a consistent few that have read every single entry. Some people read it for a little bit and then stop, and some people only read it at the start. The truth is, I began the whole thing for myself. I never intended for it to turn into anything more than an electronic diary that I could share with my loved ones so that they could read along in my healing process each day. But every time a new person would see it they’d say, “Have you really done this every single day? I can’t believe that. Look at you!” But really, don’t look at me. Because if I was doing this myself, I wouldn’t have made it very far. If I was forcing this blog to happen each night, I wouldn’t have had many things, or maybe even anything, to write about. And really, when you think about how consistent, how faithful and dependable God is, it’s really not that shocking, is it? God would have never asked me to do something that I couldn’t accomplish because there is nothing God can’t accomplish through a willing, committed spirit.
So here’s what I really want to say. You have the ability to change your life. If you want better things for yourself, if you want to be healed, refreshed, redeemed, you have the ability to be. But it’s up to you. You have to seek Him. To search for Him in everything regardless of your circumstances. You have to be willing to change, to be tested and refined and challenged. You have to be willing to be obedient, to whole heartedly trust and commit to what God wants to do in your life. You have to stick with it. You have to put forth the work. God’s strength will be made perfect in your weakness, but you’ve got to let your weakness show so that He can work through it. You have to be brave and bold and make yourself vulnerable. And, more than anything, you have to want it. It’s more than just a desire. It’s a desire coupled with fervent action. And when God shows you what it is, whatever He’s calling you to do, you’ve got to accept it. It probably won’t be anything you are expecting. I’m sure it’ll catch you off guard, just like it continues to do to me. But you have to embrace His faithfulness, fall back on it when you want to waiver. No one can make you, and He is the only one who can make you able.
#824 - Because of what He can accomplish through a willing, committed spirit.
"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." - Psalm 51:12