“You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.”
John 15:16 (The Message)
How many times have I woken up with a to do list already spinning around in my head? How many times have I been short fused and irritated because of interruptions to what I thought was how my day was supposed to go?
I’m not sure when the switch happened… but sometime in the last month or so, God has been getting my attention. I think it was around the time a friend wrote to me and encouraged me with the above verse. Normally if someone uses Scripture to encourage me, I read the Scripture, thank God for friends, thank my friend for being a great friend and continue on. However, there was something about this verse that I didn’t quite understand the meaning behind… and I felt a compelling need to figure it out. We talked about that recently in the post, God is in Charge of the Fruit.
So as I always do when I don’t know something, I Google it, because everything we read on the internet is always true, right? Seriously, though, I Googled it and this is what God used through that post to speak directly to my heart.
Everyone of us is here to fulfill God’s purpose. He chose us before we were even born and that in itself is enough to cause us to sing His praises and worship Him all day, every day. However, it goes even further than that. It’s never really about us. Let me say that again: It’s. Never. Really. About. Us. Ever. It’s always about God and bringing Him glory. We are privileged when He chooses to use us to bring Him glory, but it’s never about us. Our schedule. Our plans. Our purposes. Nope. Never.
The first truth I grasped about the above statement was this: Whether God uses me or someone else, His plan is what matters. I need to be happy that His plan is being fulfilled and not worry about whether or not I’m a part of fulfilling His plan. Because if He doesn’t use me as a secretary, then maybe He will choose to use me as a wife… or a mother… or a daughter… or a volunteer at church. It doesn’t matter in what position He chooses… He gets to choose. I need to keep listening and stay obedient for what part He invites me to participate.
Come back next time and I will finish by telling you the other truth God spoke to me… one that has brought me more peace than I’ve had in a long time.
© Cheri Swalwell 2016