So I know of this girl, who received a very direct and vivid calling from God. She was 100% sure this was God and super stoked that she was going to be of service to God!
I mean… who wouldn’t be? We all know God has a plan for our lives. Knowing what that plan is, feels like a million bucks!
Anyhoo, her boyfriend at the time, didn’t much care for this “plan from God” so it looked like it was the end of that, (although, he seemed to have come around at some point.)
Anyhoo… Her joy quickly became less… erm… joyful, as the people in her church started questioning her chosen role and future. They were talking about her, some probably said some bad things to her, but she ended up leaving the town she grew up in. The talk didn’t stop though and she ended up leaving the new town she moved to after only a few months, and moved to small little dorpie of only about 500 people, about half a country away.
Luckily, her boyfriend became a husband in the meantime… and that is what she held on to: The husband God provided and the Calling God promised.
Following this calling, almost cost them everything. By the time their first child was born, they were poor, rejected and alone. They had each other and a promise.
To make a long story short. She did, in the end, fulfil her calling. She was right and it played out exactly as God promised her. She met dignitaries. She met poor people. Saw miracles happen right in front of her, and grieved for amazing losses. She lived a full life. Not without doubt, not without conflict, and definitely not peaceful. But true to her Calling, and fulfilled.
I hope I can stand up to the pressures and challenges of this world as I try to follow God’s Calling on my life, like Mary, the mother of Jesus did.
“Blessed are you among women…” is what Elizabeth told her, but I am sure Mary frequently didn’t feel that way.
“But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
(Acts 9:15–16 NIV)
Understanding the Calling on your life is a joyous thing! It is the driving force and reminder the Holy Spirit uses to keep you on track…and at some point you (like me) took Isaiah’s route and proclaimed the same as Isaiah… Send me. I will go…
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
(Isaiah 6:8 NIV)
But although Grace is Free, being a follower of Christ, costs… and it is not cheap. So Jesus warns us to count the costs before making the decision.
“… suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?”
(Luke 14:31 NIV)
Because from this point forward. You are standing in direct opposition to not only worldly morals and values, but also the driver of those values… satan himself.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world…”
(John 15:18–19 NIV)
So this is my message for you today:
Remember why you started. God has a plan for your life. It’s not easy, and it’s going to get messy, and it will be challenging. But the rewards are amazing and the retirement package is heavenly!
Push through. Not in despair, but in the glorious hope that is Christ Jesus.
…and may it be recorded one day, like with Mary, that God has found favour with us.
