So that God...finding purpose.
While placing a bouquet of flowers on the table, one of the boys asked me why I liked flowers. I responded with the normal girly answers, "they're pretty, they smell good'". But at the last moment I mentioned because they bring life to the house. They have a purpose.
Haven't we all asked the question "why?". It starts when we're young and no matter what our mothers answered us, another "why?" was already on the tip of our tongues. It doesn't change as we become adults. The questions just become harder to answer. Why didn't I get the job? Why do children suffer? Why is there so much hate? Why sickness? Why am I here? That is a question I have asked quite a lot lately. I remember asking it when I was a teenager and then again when I was a young adult. And yet, here I am a middle aged women asking the same question in a new season, a new city and in new adventures. Why?
I'm not the only one who asked why. In the Old Testament, Habakkuk asked the "why?". He boldly stood before the Lord awaiting an answer.
I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.
Habakkuk 2:1
So, in following Habakkuk's example, I posed my questions for the Lord. Why am I here? Why start over? What is my purpose this time? And then I stood waiting for His answer. But here's the key...Habakkuk took his stand and then prepared his heart for whatever the answer was. Even if it was correction. There was a humbleness involved and an acceptance of the Lord's will.
Jesus' love is faithful. As I searched His word and listened for His voiced, He answered me. I found that the Bible is full of "so that" promises. They are essentially God's answers for the whys. One in particular stood out...
So that Your way may been known on the earth,
Your salvation among the nations.
Psalm 67:2
My purpose, your purpose, all of creation's purpose is to point to the salvation of the Lord. In the good & the bad His divine beauty is present; So That God gets the glory! And here is where my correction comes in to play; it's not about me. If I accept this in humbleness it will change my perspective of current life situations. I will look for God's glory. I will look for the "So That". My whole world view could be changed.
So in a new year, on a new website with new space to seek the Lord and share what I find, I invite you to join me. Ask "why?" and then look for the "So That God" promises. Because, here is the cool thing...while it's not about me, Jesus shares His glory with me. I get to participate in what He is doing. I get to be instrumental in making His way known here on earth. I am sanctified and made whole in this grand adventure of glory sharing.
Grace & peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by Glory & virtue by which have been given to us exceedingly great & precious promises, So That, through these you may be partakers of the divine nature...
2 Peter 1:2-4a
