(blank) you

This is a short slice from an interview I recently did with Len Evans. The topic had to do with how I transitioned from one way of serving God to another. I hope there's a takeaway for you in this:

You know, there’s this famous painting by Georges Seurat where he used millions of little dots to illustrate a public park and the people in it. I realized that ministry is just like that - when I would say, “I love students,” it was like all I could see was that one little dot in my calling. What God began to reveal in me during those very hard years of being “in between” church roles was that we often get so focused on our dot that we fail to see the bigger picture.

So what happens when God asks you to start painting in a completely different spot? Does He have that right if in the past you were sure He’d called you to ________?

This is hard teaching God gives us.

No, really... think about it - this is hard, hard, hard teaching God gives us.

We are quick to fill in the blanks of our soul with stuff we did in the past, when the best thing we can do is leave them blank. The last thing that gave you a sense of worth may very well get in the way of the hole inside you that God intentionally wants to fill with Himself. And often the people around us think our choices to wait on God are foolish - especially when there is a tough call to make.

Perhaps you went to school for ______, but your life ended up with you doing ----------.

Or maybe you believed that the relationships closest to you would be ________, but instead they've ended up being @!*#;&.

And the opposite can be true, too... for a lot of us, we have intentionally settled for a life of ++++++++, but God has a ________ that starts with Him, ends with Him, and is through Him... and your lesser lifestyle is holding back from a fully-alive existence.

Here's what you need to remember - while this does affect you, you are setting a bar for others in these choices. We are naturally all inclined to live life at the lowest common denominator, which is why when someone chooses to embrace grace as it's intended to be used - to connect with a Holy God - we create a stablity around us simply by being who He is making us to be.

Don't be deceived - God would much rather have you filling in the blanks of your life with Him versus anything you would do for Him.

We are, after all, human BEings... not human DOings.