What is your longing?
What is your purpose in life?
When I first read these questions I thought the answer would be so very simple... but then when I stopped to truly think about it... I realized that the answer I had was only a good "text book" answer....
There was a time when I thought I knew what I longed for - when I thought I knew what my purpose in life was... but three kids later... family... work... life... things have changed... and that longing and purposes is no longer the same - or maybe it is and its taken a backseat... or maybe God has been using me for His purpose and I haven't even realized it because I had it confused with my purpose???
Its easy to fall into the trap of finding our meaning in life from our family, work, a cause... its easy to be so caught up in these things that we can feel that its a God thing... its like being a hamster in its wheel spinning and spinning until one day you wonder what is going on here??
But our God is sooo AWESOME that He reminded me of this devotional I read this past Summer in Utmost for His Highest... This is what it said:
We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.
What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see “Him walking on the sea” with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see “Him walking on the sea”
but when they saw him walking on the sea
they thought it was a ghost, and cried out,
Mark 6:49.
It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.
God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.
God’s purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious. Amen!!
God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.
God’s purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious. Amen!!
The more and more I think about my purpose - what I'm longing for... the more I realize - that there really isn't "just an answer"... For me, its a journey and in that journey - I am becoming more like Him - in my speech, my actions, my life... I long to know Him more... I long to love His word... I long to find peace and joy solely in Him... I long to love Him with all my mind, heart and strength... I long to delight myself in Him. I long to be a woman of God... a woman who will touch the lives of others in His name whether it be with a hug, a prayer, a note, a conversation... a smile. My purpose is to share my life story... and what He did in my life...
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25,26
"O God, I have tasted thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still."
A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
Before I started writing this - I asked my husband the question... even though in my heart I already knew his answer... thiswas his response:
“My longings, my hopes, my dreams, and my every effort
has been to live for Him who rescued me,
to study for Him who gave me this mind,
to serve Him who fashioned my will,
and to speak to Him who gave me a voice.” Ravi Zacharias
How awesomely beautiful is that!!!
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
My reply will always be:
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Isaiah 6:8
