Summer is nearly over. And for anyone tracking, I am late in posting the August memory verse. But that is how this month is going to go for me. School starts, bible study starts, sprinkle in some family bonding, and a missions opportunity, add some changes with our church, and you have the recipe for CRAZY!! Although, I could say almost every month for me is crazy. Hence live the crazy life. I am just a magnet for crazy! Take on new tasks and add more to the old – sure why not — CRAZY!. But it is fun. I laugh more than anyone, which is due in large part to my husband and kids. They just make life fun. The other thing that makes this chaos keep spinning is the fact that I am chasing after my dream. Since I was a kid I can remember asking God to make me different. I got a little more than I thought I would with that prayer, but I wouldn’t give it back now even if I could.
I wanted to bring peace to everyone everywhere. I wanted everyone I knew to feel loved and valued. I still do. I just go about it differently now than at age 5. Ok, all that long-windedness (is that a word?) to bring me to the main point of this month’s blog. Finding your purpose and living it.
Some call it their dream, their calling, their purpose. All of which means the same thing. God has us each here for a reason, and life is best when we know that reason and strive to fulfill it. But just how to find it and accomplish it seems elusive at best, and sometimes impossible.
Then I read these verses from Psalm 16. Verse 7 reads ” I bless the Lord who gives me counsel, in the night also my heart instructs me.” When I first read it all I could think of were the verses that talk about the heart being full of evil like Jer. 17:9. But this verse seemed to be saying my heart instructs me at night. Why at night I wondered? I am not a fan of the night. Sleepless, bad dreams, loneliness all seem to thrive in the night. Anyway, I did a little research and the word heart there is actually kidney. Odd – my kidney instructs me at night… all mine instructs me to do is use the bathroom at 2:00AM. That isn’t what it means. It does mean kidney, but there is more to it than that. It also means the seat of emotions or your innermost heartfelt desires. The secret things you long for that you don’t tell just anyone. An amazing woman of God and friend of mine told me that the kidney is one of our innermost organs, and damage to a kidney can be life threating. It all began to connect and lead me to this amazing conclusion. God gives us counsel or direction but allows our dreams or our God-given purpose to instruct us. Why do I say dreams, because at night you dream, and if we pay attention to those weird dreams they might just be clues to our purpose. You see God gives us certain desires, or likes if you will, to specific things. For me, I love the word of God, art, and talking. Mix it all together and you have Bible study leader who makes art to decorate the table for the study. Or a leader who is always making stuff for the women in the study that have Bible verses on them so they can take them with them or hang them up at work or home to remind them what God says. I even put Bible verses on the little tags that connect to a bag of tea. Make something portable, pretty and full of the word of God and I am in every time!
But that’s me. So what is you? Do you like to write? Start a blog or write a Bible study, or even just write a friend a note to encourage them. Do you sing? Join the worship team, make a youtube channel of your songs, or sing to random people to cheer them up. I would so do that if I could sing well. Do you cook? Join the ministry at church that makes meals for people who are going through a crisis or hard time. Do you like one on one conversation? Have people over for coffee or meet at your local Starbucks and just listen. God can use anything we offer. And it works best when we allow Him to use what fuels us.
It’s simple to figure out. Daydream for a minute what you would do if you had time on your hands. Write down what that is. Now pray over that paper and ask God to show how He wants to use that to bless you and influence those around you. Then, here is the part that trips us up every time, do what God shows/tells you to do with what is written on that paper. Then keep doing it. And bam you are living out your dream or your purpose. God has counselled you, and your heart has instructed you. And if you are really brave, tell us all about it in the comment section of this blog.
Click here for the August memory verse
