I hate leaving a task half finished and incomplete. It looks imperfect. Before I move onto anything else, I like to make sure what I have done is finished. I then feel like I have accomplished something worthwhile.
I feel fulfilled. Complete.
Continue reading He’s Still Writing My Story
I think we all have seasons where we don’t understand what is happening. Something in our life is not going the right way, and no matter how much we pray, it just isn’t happening. We can be down on our knees begging God to show us what we are waiting for, or we can be throwing our fists in the air angry at why He has not provided answers.
I’ve been there.
I’m still there.
Continue reading Holding On in the Midst of Waiting
I think it’s safe to say that most of us, if not all of us, had a dream of what we would be when we were older. A nurse? A firefighter? A princess? A footballer? My dream was that I would be a teacher. I use to sit in my room and pretend that I was teaching my teddies, and sometimes I even roped my brother into playing!
For years I had this longing that I wanted to help other children to fulfill their potential. I completed pre-teaching courses at college and did a number of work experiences at local schools. I enjoyed every minute of it and I passed with flying colours.
My dream didn’t quite turn out as I had planned.
I only just got through college with my A-Levels and I never went to University. The government changed the way that University fees were to be paid, so it was just too much for me to even consider. So, yes, I wasn’t even going to get a degree! Trying to sort out what I was going to do with my life was hard, especially when I didn’t have a degree. I found the options open to me very limiting.
I decided to take a year out to do some voluntary work and to try and get some idea of what I wanted to do with my life. It was only by chance that I ended up working with the Church Army in one of their Volunteer programmes, and I moved to London. Now, 17 years later, I have a lovely family with a wonderful husband and three gorgeous children.
What about the dream?
Maybe, some of us still have that dream though? What do we do? I think that there is only two options we can do. We can either do something about it, plan out how we can live our dream and go for it. Or, we can sit here and accept what has happened. Believe me, I have planned out what I wanted to do…and started it…but it’s just not going anywhere. I’m not the type of person either to sit around and accept things.
So, maybe there is a third option?
Maybe, it’s not my dream that I should be following. Maybe, this is God’s dream and God’s plan.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8
What God wants with me and what He wants me to achieve is probably, and most likely, different to what I would like to do.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21
It’s hard to keep this in mind as a positive perspective though when situations don’t go as well. Especially when family and friends are gone, homes are lost, dreams are shattered…the list goes on.
How do you keep going in the work you are doing then?
I keep this in my mind…
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus Philippians 1:6
God has started something in our lives, and He’s not about to stop now. Our life is not over until He says it’s over, despite of how we may feel and no matter what we are going through. Our best days are not what has happened in the past. With God, our greatest days are yet to come!
God has started something in our lives, and He's not about to stop now. Share on X Our best days are not what has happened in the past. With God, our greatest days are yet to come! Share on XWherever God leads us, He will provide for us, and He will meet our needs. We just need to remember that it’s not the things that matter — our job, our house, or what we achieve. We are God’s product, and we are made up of the moments that made an impact for God’s Kingdom – the moments that we are going through now! Hang in there. Your work that you are doing now is in God’s mighty plan.
Something to think about…
Are you in a place where you feel you shouldn’t be? Try and keep in your mind that it may not be for our benefit why we are there. It may be that we are impacting someone else’s lives without realising, and it will be for a greater good…God’s amazing plan!
Prayer
Lord, I have no idea what you have planned for my life right now and what work you want me to do to fulfill your bigger picture. I ask that you send your Holy Spirit to fill me with strength to help me through the times when I find it hard to see what your plan may be. Help me to realise that whatever is happening, it is for your greater good. Amen
I originally wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “work”. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.
I couldn’t stop at five minutes though as this topic is just so close to my heart at the moment. The waiting period that you go through is heart wrenching at times, but I do believe that what we go through now is part of the bigger picture later on.
When it comes to spreading The Word, I am so pleased that we don’t have to do it perfectly, coz guess what? I’m not! I am so far from perfect, but then you probably already knew this. My life is full of so many messes and I want to share with you how God has helped me to get through it all.
I have been comparing myself to other people around me though…I wanted to try and be perfect in the way that I can share how God has helped me in my life, but every time I looked at someone else and how they delivered their message, I always wondered why I couldn’t get it so perfect.
Why was I not good enough to do what they do?
“You were born to be different—to stand out. We all were, but we all won’t. You have to make the choice to live that way, not perfectly but purposefully.” Uncommon: Pursuing a Life of Passion and Purpose
Guess what though? God will use my messes whatever and turn them into messages the way that He wants them to be. Not the way I want them, or how anybody else wants them. My messy messages will still come out torn and tattered at the edges when I share them, but that is who I am.
I am not perfect.
I am an uncommon mess with an uncommon message!
I’ve come to this knowledge with the help of one woman with a courageous heart. Carey Scott has penned her heart so well in her book Uncommon and it is launched today (Saturday 1st July 2017)! If you are one of these people that needs a little encouragement to be brave and to step out into the unknown then this book is for you.
“Uncommon: Pursuing a Life of Passion and Purpose is a battle cry for women to step out of the ordinary and live differently. It’s a blueprint for a life full of passion and purpose. And it has the power to change everything.”
Taken from Carey’s website, which you can visit for more information on her book.
Carey is so down to earth in person, and she is no different in her book. She shares with such honest vulnerability and still keeps it real. Through her book she will help to give you the power you will need to stand up and take hold of who you are in Christ, despite what hold your past has on you.
If you like what I have written here and you want to be encouraged to step out in your faith, then Uncommon is available to buy on Amazon now. You can also download one of the chapters on her website to see how great her book really is – don’t just take my word for it – have a look for yourself.
This post was inspired by the book Uncommon: Pursuing a Life of Passion and Purpose by Carey Scott. You can learn more about the book and order at http://careyscott.org/uncommon/
The definition of the word purpose is “the reason for which something is done or created, or for which something exists.” When something is created, it is created for a reason…a purpose.
Sometimes when something is created though, it may take a while to figure out how to use what has been created for its sole purpose. Sometimes, the thing that has been created, has been misused in some way and it is left with marks. This doesn’t mean to say that it still cannot be used though.
I have a potato peeler that has been used so much that it fell apart. I have managed to bind it back together though with tape and I still use it. It doesn’t look great, but it still works…and still does the job that it was created to do.
I believe that God created me, therefore He created me for a purpose…for His purpose. But sometimes when difficulties happen in our lives it is hard to see what that purpose is, especially when we have been marred. For a long time, because of the abuse that I suffered, I didn’t believe that I could be used for anything. I had been damaged, so why would God use me?
I have learnt though that in whatever situation happens, if I keep my focus on Him, God works through it and will use it for His purpose. He did not create the situations that I had to endure, but He did create me.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
