Tag Archives: Truth

Why am I?

Posted on by

There are times and seasons when we wonder why our personal set of genetic codes exist. I have been in such a season of reflection. Why am I?

I exist to live in a deeply personal relationship with the One who created me, redeemed me, and is alive within me in all the fullness of his divine life. That alone is staggering and more than enough for a lifetime. But it gets even more amazing.

Before time began, God planned and purposed you and me to do amazing stuff through all the seasons of our lives. He “shapes the precious life he saves and does so for a special purpose. The pattern starts to unfold — a pattern for which God has been shaping you as he takes you through a lifelong pursuit and to a treasured fulfillment of serving him well. God intends to help each one of us live with his design in mind and not to trample underfoot his exquisite workmanship. The design is beautiful. The promise is sure. The end result is profound. The answers will all be there. But the condition is clear: we must search for God with all our hearts.”[1]

Note the last line – “we must search for God with all our hearts.” We find our special purpose and gifting not by pursuing the gift but the Giver. Within him is the truth of who and why you are. Stay your heart upon him and guard against the insidious whispers of doubt that question and warp Truth.

He loves you fiercely, and has given you an extraordinary gift. The gift is very precious to him and tailor made for your unique set of genetic codes. May you “see the beauty and the marvel he had in mind when he created you.”1

What must he feel when I think I have so little and minimize it through comparisons? Have I trampled it under the foot of insecurity or doubt?  May what I do with what I’ve been given make his heart sing! And may I trust him to use it when and where and how it most pleases him and leave the end result in his hands.

[1] Zacharias, Ravi K. (2007) The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

Unalterable

Posted on by

Fifteen years ago, my youngest son told me that he had enlisted in the army. Guessing my reaction, he waited to tell me until it was unalterable. When I realized there was nothing I could do to change it, I moaned that something terrible might happen. I’ll never forget his response, and I remember it every time he’s deployed. “I’m in God’s hands and He’s in control of what happens to me here and everywhere.” Although he didn’t quote Psalm 139, there were definitely echoes of it…“You hem me in behind and before, and lay your hand upon me…if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast…all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” He pulled the “spiritual card” on me, and it worked. How do you argue with that?? But, in 2005, it didn’t lessen the pain of watching him board the army bus and be taken away from me and eventually to the far side of the sea.

He was deployed to Afghanistan again this week. I’ve lost track of all of his deployments, and with every one there’s a place in me that’s uneasy and unsettled until he’s back. Yet, God meets me in that place with tender compassion, and asks me to trust His sovereign care. I can’t imagine the anxiety if I didn’t believe that God is absolutely sovereign and absolutely loving. There is an inexplicable peace that flows over the uneasiness because I know God is God, and He wrote the first day and last day of my son’s stories before they were conceived and carries them every day in between. That is unalterable Truth.

But I’m human. Sometimes it’s hard to trust. Sometimes fear wells up in my throat. Then I just lean into the great compassion and goodness of God and ask Him to help me trust Him more.

Wallowa Mountains. Photo by Pam Teschner