What a beautiful day! I know it’s supposed to be REALLY hot later on, but right now it’s not so bad. I’m enjoying a few restful days at my parents’ house in Michigan this week. I always love coming up here…especially since they built an awesome new deck…and put a hammock on it. THE best. Needless to say, I did my daily devotions from said hammock this morningJ
I even had some visitors!
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| It’s a little hard to see…I didn’t want to move too much for fear of disturbing them. Mama and two babies! |
Anyways, I read another all too familiar verse this morning. And, per usual, I received fresh revelation from what I read. Crazy how you can read the same thing over and over again, but yet get something totally new out of it every time. Love it.
“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” Psalms 84:10-11
Okay. If you’re anything like me, the common worship song, “Better is one day in you courts, better is one day in your house” was probably going through your head as you read those words. Like I said, a very familiar verse. But, it was the second verse that really stuck out to me this time through. Sometimes when I read a familiar verse I tend to ignore the other verses surrounding it, even though they are probably just as important. I don’t really know if I had ever even read verse eleven before. I know I refer to the footnotes in my Bible a lot, but the notes for this verse were what really intrigued me, so I am going to share them…
“God does not promise to give us everything we think is good but he will not withhold what is permanently good. He will give us the means to walk along his paths, but we must do the walking. When we obey him, he will not hold anything back that will help us serve him.”
Interesting, huh? Just because we think something is good, doesn’t mean we are going to get it. Even if we were able to be completely perfect people, we still wouldn’t receive everything we deemed to be necessary and good. God is the ultimate judge of what is “good” for us, and what is not. He has a specific plan for each one of our lives, and if there is something we need in order to carry out that plan, he is more than willing to give it to us. He will provide us the means to do what we are called to do, but we are the ones that actually have to do it. It’s like hiking. You can have all the best gear and be totally prepared, but if you never plan a trip or get out into the wilderness, you’ll never get the chance to use your gear. God equips us with certain gifts and talents. He puts passions in our hearts, and fills us with a sense of purpose and fulfillment when we participate in certain activities. But if we don’t get out there and do it, we’ll never get the chance to use those gifts and passions. “He will give us the means to walk along his paths, but we must do the walking.”
For me it’s writing. And helping people. Especially young women who are struggling to find their purpose in life. Trust me, I’ve been there. I have a passion for writing, and when I write I feel purposeful and fulfilled. I know God gave me this talent for a reason, and it would be silly not to use it. I don’t know where writing will take me, or what God will have me do in the future, but that is not what matters. What matters is that I am doing the walking, and using the gifts God gave me to do so.
What about you? What gifts and talents do you have? What are some things that you are passionate about? I guarantee God gave you these gifts and passions for a reason. Seek his face, and ask how you should use them…I promise you won’t be sorry.