On a distant Sunday night a few weeks ago, my team gathered for worship as usual. We met on the concrete slab that looks out on the land that surrounds our property. It was a clear night and the moon reflected the sun with power that lit the sky. As we opened our hearts for prayer I casually scanned my brothers and sisters because I was focused not on my Father’s eyes but on the expectations of others. We were slumped over ourselves, our eyes were empty with apathy and I’m pretty sure that I heard a faint snoring beside me. We had become so consumed in our journey that we had completely forgotten about our purpose.
So we prayed. We prayed because the empty hymns that we sang were not satisfying our hunger for purposeful living. We prayed to break down the walls of our hardened hearts so that we could break our apathy And then something like fire came to me. What was to come, I knew, would forever change our lives.
We came together and concluded that we are disciples of Jesus but we have not been living the life that He calls us to live; we came to the conclusion that if we were to live fully to our calling it was necessary for us to take action. So we looked at Jesus and what He did and we devoted our week to walking just as He walked. We lived a life of simplicity; we fed the hungry, we prayed, we shoveled a little bit of dirt. We ate less, slept very little and looked to the Lord for our strength and guidance. We lived simply but we were changed radically. These next few blogs can only scratch the surface of what God revealed to me but still I pray that it will help you get even a small picture of the power and glory of God working in our lives.
Before this week came, I read Job and out of it came Job 23:9-17 which says, “God has been at work in the North and the South, but still I have not seen him. Yet God knows every step I take; if he tests me, he will find me pure. I follow faithfully the road he chooses, and never wander to either side. I always do what God commands; I follow his will, not my own desires. He never changes. No one can oppose him or stop him from doing what he wants to do. He will fulfill what he has planned for me; that plan is just one of the many he has; I tremble with fear before him. Almighty God has destroyed my courage. It is God, not the dark that makes me afraid-even though the darkness has made me blind”.
Who am I to say that I will ruin God’s plan? Who am I to say that God is not present in my life? He will fulfill in me what He has planned and there is nothing that can stop Him, not even me. It is not my journey but my purpose that I live for; in living out my purpose comes the journey.
Brilliant. Just what I needed to hear. Bless you, Tara.