Tag Archives: Faith

God Loves a Willing Heart

God loves a willing heart

God called Mary. He called her to do the unthinkable. I’m not referring to giving birth to the Son of God although, that was pretty major! No, I’m referring to God calling Mary to be willing and God loves a willing heart.

Think about it. 

Mary had to be willing to do as God called her in the face of adversity. She was going to face her hardest trial yet. Mary was young, poor, not yet married…and was pregnant! People she knew and loved would turn their backs on her.

Mary had never been intimate with a man before therefore, how can she be pregnant? Can you imagine the gossip going around? The looks. The innuendos. People talking behind her back. 

What would you do if you were in her shoes? 

Well, I feel a little like Mary at the moment. No, I am not pregnant! I feel God is asking me if I am ready to take the next step in carrying out His purpose in my life. 

I’ve had a stirring in my heart now for about 3-4 years. I said yes to God for Him to use me and to use what I had been through in my past. It’s been a long period of cultivating my heart and waiting on what God wants me to do.

It’s not been easy. Sometimes it’s been a painful learning process but, God has strengthened me in my healing. He gave me opportunities at various times to share my story.

Over the last 3-4 years, how He has wanted to use me has remained unanswered, and at times this has been frustrating. I want to help other people who have been through similar situations to my own and I know what I have been through in my life will make a difference for others. 

Well, this has changed over the last month. I feel a big stirring inside me that something big is going to happen. I’ll be honest though…I am scared!

I’m on the launch team for Mary DeMuth’s book “We Too: How the Church Can Respond Redemptively to the Sexual Abuse Crises”. When I saw what this book was about, I realised I had to jump at the chance to be on the launch team. I am passionate about helping people who have been sexually abused.

The scary bit? Being a voice for those who need to be heard. This means being vulnerable and leaving myself open. And that is scary. 

I have questioned if this is the right thing for me to do. After all, I could just keep quiet and have an easier life! However, I feel I have this deep stirring in my heart and I need to be willing. No matter how scared I feel. This is what it means to have a willing heart in the moment when God asks something of you. 

Could you be like Mary?

Have you been praying for God to use you in some way and has He asked you to do the unthinkable? What would you honestly do?

Are you scared and would you respond by hiding away? Well, God will give you strength. 

Isaiah 41:10

Would you say you are not worthy to be chosen? Well, God says you are so worthy. 

John 15:16

Or, would you be like Mary and say, “Here I am, Lord”?

Luke 1:38

If you are scared, don’t be. We just need to have a willing heart. God will do the rest. He will prepare us for what is to come next. 

If you are scared, don’t be. We just need to have a willing heart. God will do the rest. Share on X

This post was originally written for the Five Minute Friday Community which is where a number of writers gather for a weekly writing challenge around a single word prompt. We write to our hearts content and only for five minutes (or there abouts). 

I couldn’t stick to five minutes on this one and ended up missing the link up! Doh!! The word prompt was “willing” and you can click here to view what other people have written. 

Day 31 – The Door may Close, but God is still Close

Sometimes when a door closes on us, we feel a bit let down. An opportunity we were waiting for that was in our grasp has been taken away. When opportunities constantly seem to pass us by, we then start to get despondent.

We don’t see in these moments the opportunities God is working out beneath our disappointments. Paul experienced a lot of closed doors when he was travelling around. They practically slammed right in his face.

That didn’t stop him from persevering on. He knew God was still close beside him, despite the disappointments he was facing. The doors closing in front of him we’re paving the way to open ones ahead. We just can’t see the open door just yet.

Take heart, friends. We experience many doors closing in our lives, and sometimes it hurts when it slams shut. We may not see what the closed door means now, but when the time is right you may see them as a blessing in the future.

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1


You are reading day 31 of the Write 31 Days Challenge in conjunction with The Five Minute Friday Community. Today’s word prompt is ‘close ’.

Day 30 – Lord, Hear My Voice

I have been through many waiting periods over the last 3 or so years. Every time I feel I go through the door from one waiting period, I then enter into another. I never know what is behind the next door.

Each new waiting period provides an answer to the previous one. But it then leaves me questioning whether I will get through the one I just entered.

What do I do with each new waiting period?

I have noticed when I find I’m in the depths of my difficulties, I cry out to God. And I mean cry out. Over the years I have also learnt to trust God. Trust He will provide a route to navigate a way out of the depths of my waiting. But most of all I have hope.

When you sink into a place so deep, you hit rock bottom. You realise you are in a place where nobody can reach you to help you out. I have learnt the only One you can turn to in times like these is God.

He is the only One who can provide a great deal of grace, masses amount of mercy, and a whole heap of hope. And Lord knows we need every bit of these we can get.

Psalm 130 describes a hopeful waiting in times of despair.

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.


You are reading day 30 of the Write 31 Days Challenge in conjunction with The Five Minute Friday Community. Today’s word prompt is ‘voice ’.