You were born for such a time

From the book  Forgotten God by Francis Chan, Chan writes "And like our Savior, who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and acts in and through us in ways that on our own we are not capable of. This is our purpose of living. This is our hope."


Have you ever had one of those days when the puzzle pieces just fell together? We had one of those a few days ago in our household. Not a great day of revelation, but rather some slow and steady things that have been simmering for some time finally came together to let some peace fall down on our hearts. It gave us such a boost of encouragement, knowing that "You were born for such a time as this."


After a few conversations with our pastor of the plant/start-up church that we have recently become members of, it's evident that the peace that God placed in our hearts in December while visiting this town was directly being prayed for by the leaders of this church that very same weekend. The church was growing steadily, but they were still in need of those who were ready to roll up their sleeves and help with the harvesting. T-rav and I were starting to roll up our sleeves, but what a surprise it was that that the harvesting we were going to do wasn't going to happen in what I lovingly refer to as "the promised land." 


 T-rav and I came here with the notion that yes, God had provided a great job to support our needs but that also there was something greater still He wanted to do with our life. We recognize the effort from others who were obedient to Christ, who invested hours of mentoring and discipiling in us, to help us see what the purpose and hope that is this life we live. MMBC is a very unique church, blessed abundantly from generations past that have spent hours on their knees praying for God's will to be done. God used more than a handful of people from within those walls to teach us by living out what the Bible says, not just repeating verses mindlessly, but being patient with us and encouraging. We had been equipped in some areas and felt the call to start engaging, but God had other plans for "where" that engaging would be. ( Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thought are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.") 


He never once told us that being here would be easy, He just gave us a sense of direction and a peace that surpassed all understanding, so we faithfully came here. He let us wander a little during the 1st 6 months, only to reveal Himself (to me especially) in ways that I don't think would have ever happened had we not been faithful to His calling. It's hard living here in "the hole in the Bible belt" but I'm getting to see God in new ways.


Matthew 24:44-46
So you also must be ready. The son of Man will come at an hour when you don't expect him. "Suppose a master puts one of his servants in charge of the other servants in his house. The servant's job is to give them their food at the right time. The master wants a faithful and wise servant for this. It will be good for the servant if the master finds him doing his job when the master returns.


A very wise friend told me.....You don't have to be successful, just be faithful. Wow, how true!


T-rav and I love the words to this song, especially now