I've often wondered how God really works. Let's face it. He's not always easily understood. You have to wonder what kind of God expects His follower's to trust in what they can't see. Better yet, accept His will when He seems so intangible.Over the last 7 years I've grown to expect the unexpected from God. I never expected to be in the ministry (well, at least not after I divorced a minister). But when my writing career began it became my ministry. I spent so much time worrying that God would send me to Africa that I never looked at the possibilities that He would use the talents He built into my wiring.
So, how does God work? How do we know His will? Still questions that are hard to answer. But I can say without difficulty, that the day I laid my talents before Christ and said those infamous words....the words that we have such a hard time saying..."Use me," that my life turned around.
I've never held a job that was overtly exciting--they were fulfilling but not exciting, but when God blessed me with a ministry, I found excitement I never thought I'd know.
God works when we ask Him to step into the lead. Our desire is to be the head dog, but that's not what God wants. He can't and won't work in us when we insist on taking the lead, scarfing the credit and basking in the glory. It's not about us. It's about Him. My ministry partner and I talked extensively about the "comment" lines on the ministry site. We agreed wholeheartedly that the comments needed to go. The site was God centered not "us" centered. It certainly wasn't the popular choice of our writers but the site and the ministry belongs to Christ. We are simply the messengers. We took the comment line away and God blessed the ministry over and over.
And knowing His will -- well, that's even harder. I've learned that I can know His will by assessing the blessings He's given me. When I look over the successes, whether big or small, count the blessings and give credit for the joys, then I can clearly see His will. Knowing God's will is not always understanding the future, rather it's praying for His discernment and then following the path step by step. I look ahead one step and access the results of what I've done. If the results are good, have worked well then I trust that I am within His will.
I mess up. But God continues to lead me and love me. Go figure.
He drives the words that I place on the paper and with each letter I offer them fully to His service. He has filled me with a passion to write and though my personal goal is to be published my spiritual goal is to be His servant. I want to be a writer. I am a writer above all else. I write continually, whether successful by human standards or not, and He uses me to speak to the guy next door, or the lady in the next office.
How does God work? Wonderfully and amazingly. And He has chosen to work through me.
