“… People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing…” Isaiah 26:3-4 (The Message)
Last time we were together, I spoke about how I believe God allows pain, trials and difficulties in our life to help us mature into the individuals He designed us to be. Today I wanted to talk a little further about that and how that’s different than being miserable.
God tells us specifically in His word that He will use whatever methods necessary to help us mature, molding and shaping our lives with the potter’s wheel sometimes, turning up the heat in the oven so to speak, not to harm us but to help us become the individuals He designed.
However, God also tells us that He has come to give us an abundant life, life to the fullest. Those two statements can sometimes seem contradictory.
Like I spoke of last time, God has created each of us for a specific purpose. Even people in the same family, who share the same DNA, aren’t meant always to fulfill the same purpose. God is a very personal God and creates us each uniquely with our own gifts and talents. I know for myself, it took a long time before I stepped into my calling, my unique purpose in life and honestly, while I’m closer, I don’t believe I’ve arrived yet.
I grew up happiest with little ones surrounding me. I volunteered in the church nursery, babysat beginning at age 10, and had lead roles in Awana and VBS. My goal was to be a child psychologist. I also worked at a residential facility for troubled children, owned my own home daycare for six years and worked as a foster care/adoption worked for five years.
God moved me out of those positions into the job of medical transcriptionist where I worked faithfully for 10+ years so I could have the desire of my heart – staying home and raising my own children. It was during that period in my life that I dedicated it to God, saying, “I don’t think You created me to be a medical transcriptionist my whole life. I want to do more. I want to know the purpose You have for my life and I will obey.”
During the next five years or so, God started moving me toward the field of writing. He took more time to transition me from medical transcriptionist to the two jobs I currently hold now – working with marketing, books, editing a magazine, etc. I always joke (with seriousness) that God paid me for ten years to learn proper English and grammar through my medical transcriptionist job. It was difficult with some very painful periods, but looking back now, I needed that training ground to give me confidence in my promotion to where I am today. I wouldn’t trade that time, from the friendships I built with my bosses as well as the blessings God gave me during that time, for anything.
Come back next time for some encouragement if you find yourself in “miserable.”
© Cheri Swalwell 2016