Lessons I'm Learning - 4

Today, as I worship, praise, and listen to God, I am being stretched. Thinking back over my life, I see much wasted time. Although there may be some who know me, and who may view my life differently, I see missed opportunities.

Growing up in the south there was always the unspoken pressure that a woman's role is to become a good wife. Even vocational callings were defined.  Always someone else's idea of what my life was destined to be. As a child, I ached to be a missionary doctor. As a teenager there were many times when I attempted to respond to God's call on my life, only to be put in my place. Now that I am older, I'm told that I'm too old for certain things - that it is time to retire and do what I want to do. But, even when I did retire, I realized that in order to help others, I would have to continue to work.

This morning as I listened to a message from the pastor at Hillsong Church in the UK in London, my heart was stirred again. A pastor in Uganda, reporting on what has been happening there during this crisis, shared about the affect of the virus and forced shut downs on the poorest of poor. He spoke about a dear lady who has been sharing her 10 x 14 feet living space with her children and six others who are not her own, making a total of fourteen people in one small space. When asked how she was doing, she stated that when she worked, the family ate, but when she was not working, they went hungry. Since she's been quarantined as has the entire world for several weeks, the family has been hungry. Fortunately, the organization Compassion has been providing food. I follow this organization as I have supported through the local church here in New Mexico two Compassion children who live in Kenya and Ghana. I thank God for the ministries of Compassion, Samaritan's Purse, Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, and many others who reach out to serve others, not just at this time, but all the time. Although our nation has been hard hit, it does not compare to the daily struggle of third world countries who can barely survive on a "normal" day. It was equally encouraging to hear the testimony of this Ugandan pastor who had been supported by the very church through Compassion who helped him when he was a child. God continues to do great things.

The pastor at Hillsong UK asked a question that I have been asking myself for several months, but especially during this time. He asked how we wanted our life to be after we emerge from this battle. How do I want my life to be? As for me, I want my life to follow Jesus Christ's example, not the world's idea of how things should be. In Romans 12:1-2, Paul tells us:

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you:

Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping,

eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life -

and place it before God as an offering. Embracing

what God does for you is the best thing you can do

for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your

culture that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be

changed from the inside out. Readily recognize

what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.

Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you

down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best

out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

The Message Bible

I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I only know that I don't want to waste any more time. I am so excited to see how God will answer my prayers for myself, my family, and this world.

Pastor Brian at Hillsong in Australia spoke about waiting on the Lord, and he gave examples from Hebrews 11 of those who waited on God during desperate times. Again, his message the same...how will our lives emerge?

Interestingly, when I tuned into Flatirons message this morning, Ben, our teaching pastor, spoke along the same lines as the Hillsong pastors, when he spoke about our "new normal" and how it compared to our "normal" before the virus. Basically, Ben said that if our life was like his, that the "normal" life was not where he wanted to be. Now is the time to be listening to God, praying, seeking Him for what comes next. I know that I have been dissatisfied with my own life for a very long time. I retired so that I would have time to do some things I felt I was called to do. But instead of doing that, I have myself back in a place where the needs of others are holding me back. Good things, valuable things, God-honoring things, but not what I am called to do.

I know God is speaking to me, that He has a new life for me, and I want to emerge victorious for Him.