Hey, Darling Things!
I am about to write one of the fastest posts of my life because it’s almost time for the ministry to close for the day and I don’t like for any of the support staff to feel like they have to stay around and wait for me. My man will also be ready for his wife to come home. I don’t have time to think about how I should say this or to proof it and rehash it for the next two hours. I’m just going to spit it out there because I can’t shake it from my mind and I feel it pressing on me in such a way that I’ve got to release it.
In the wonderful (and I really do mean wonderful) world of blogs and Twitter-follows, a pile-up can happen with the potential to profoundly hinder the Gospel. We can find ourselves suddenly feeling panicked, or confused, or left out, or just plain lame because our follow-ship of Christ doesn’t look like someone else’s that we admire. I know that’s a yawner. I mean, who doesn’t already know that can happen? Talk about an elementary grasp of the obvious. But stay with me here a second and hash this out a bit because this very thing happened to me yesterday. And I feel like if it happened to me – and I’ve been pretty convinced of the direction of my calling for years now – that it could happen to a lot of us. Especially those who haven’t quite gotten their footing yet. See if you relate:
I read a fabulous post by a young woman I greatly respect and I was moved and convicted by it but over the next few hours I fell into the (self-induced!) trap of thinking things like, “I should have taken that same stand. That’s what’s really important. We should have vastly downsized. We should have moved to the inner city. Not out to the country. I need to get rid of more stuff. ” (And I do, for crying out loud.) “And I need to be more active globally.” And on and on and on. Now, listen to me carefully when I tell you that it was not her post. The post was tremendous, filled with the love of Jesus, and such a portrayal of the Gospel. The problem was what my mind then did with it.
I started thinking of all the people who are doing effectual things for the Kingdom, who I admire tremendously and often wish I were more like. For instance, I started thinking of some Bible professors who I follow who spend all of their work lives training up students in the Scriptures then watch them walk out into the world and take their places. Now, that’s huge. And I started thinking of my dear friends who do amazing and courageous work to fight the atrocities of human trafficking and I think, “Now, THAT’S enormous! What a reflection of the heart of God! Freedom!!! Does it get any bigger than that?? THAT’S what God’s prioritizing right now!” They impact and motivate me every day. And then I start thinking of people who’ve adopted numerous orphans and those who put their hearts at risk over and over as fabulous, loving foster parents. I love children! What could be more Christ-like than that??? And I have so many missionary friends who have left every worldly comfort for the Gospel of the living Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes at the daily risk of their lives. That is the Great Commission! The main thing Jesus sent us out to do!
AND, SISTER, IT IS.
But which cause do we take up? Where do we begin? Which one is God’s favorite?? Who’s God’s favorite??? Because I want to be like God’s favorite, don’t you? Yes, yes, Jesus is God’s favorite. And He is the one and only Person we should want to be just like. But, let’s admit it. Sometimes we can get a little confused in this lens we have to the world through one quick gleaming glance at our screen. The works of God taking place out there are astounding! And some of them we now have the privilege to give ear to every single day through Twitter. It’s fabulous. I absolutely love it. But it can also be bewildering as we try to figure out where we fit in all of that. And maybe we can’t see a fit at all.
Here’s what I want to throw at you to consider. This is what I felt God placed upon my heart as I wrestled with this last night.
What do you look like when you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength?
Because THAT person, Girlfriend, is who He’s looking for in you.
When we’re trying to hash out God’s priorities for us, that’s IT in a nutshell. “Teacher, which commandment is the most important of all?”
And that’s what He told them.
So, let me ask you this: when you are teeming with love for the Lord your God, who are you right then? What is your passion? What is it that you are bursting to do? That’s probably the stream of your calling. I’m not asking you who you see in front of you when you feel the most love for Jesus because that could be your pastor or your teacher or your worship leader. I’m asking you who is INSIDE OF YOU when you are flooded with the fiery love of Christ? Right there in that passion you’ll start discovering that purpose.
You following Christ will not always look the same as someone else following Christ. Why on earth would He have bothered to form you in your mother’s womb with your own DNA and life experience ahead just to copy what someone else you’re seeing is doing?
Who are you supposed to look like in your calling here on earth and in the way you follow Christ? You’re supposed to look like the version of you that loves Jesus with everything in you.
That’s the real you.
And that’s the road down which you will find what He put you on the planet to do. You don’t have to figure out what to surrender to. Just surrender your heart to Jesus. Every single ounce of it. Ask Him to give you a love for Him that surpasses anything in your human experience. A supernatural capacity. And ask Him for it every day until He does it and then ask Him to do it some more. If you’re a writer, your exploding love for Him will bring it out. If you’re a liberator, you will not be able to keep yourself from seeing to the oppressed. If you’re a teacher, you won’t be able to quit studying except to share what you learned with somebody. If you love Him with your whole heart and that whole heart bursts to sell everything and move to China, Girl, get your passport!
Who would you be if you loved Jesus with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength?
That’s what you’re meant to look like.
Let THAT person follow Him, and He, Child, will make you a fisher of men.
My fastest post ever. But I feel better.
I love you guys so much.
Great post, Beth. It spoke to me right where I needed it!! I truly believe you are doing a tremendous amount of good in the Kingdom and have for years. You have blessed and encouraged many, many people of which I am one. I know everyone can’t sell everything or move to China, but I needed to hear it again! Thank you and blessings!!
I am SO thankful you do exactly what you do. Your bible studies have brought me closer to God and I can’t imagine anything more important than doing that for someone else.
Thanks Beth for sharing that post! I think it was just for me! Have a blessed Resurrection Day with your family!!!
This is so timely for me, Beth. Thank you for sharing your heart quickly here. I’ve been reading a book about Mother Teresa. It’s a read aloud book for my son, who is in 5th grade. I had to stop reading yesterday because my crying wouldn’t let me be understood. My heart has been questioning. What, Lord? What am I to do? How to love like You? Surrender is all I hear.
Cathy, Charlottesville VA-
#7
Ps. 42:11 LASB- “Why am I discourage? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again, my savior and my God.”
Oh miss Beth! Thank you SO much for this post! I so needed to hear these words of direction and encouragement! I have been struggling with the exact thing you talked about: feeling like I’m not being a good enough Christian cause I’m not out there doing all of these wonderful things like others. I have a heart for the women in the church…to encourage them and remind them to keep their eyes on Chris and His ways instead of the world’s. That is what I am passionate about! Oh Father above, please help me to do that very thing that you have created me to do!
Thanks again miss Beth, my dear sister in the Lord!
Amen, Miss Beth! Thank you for this!
Beth, thank you for this blog..it is so practical, profound and true…thanks…
i have recently come back from Israel..10 girls from Canada…was an amazing trip…had your tour guide too…Arie…would love to speak to you sometime about things…..if you respond to personal emails..and God orchestrates…
God spoke to me today through you! Thank you! Thank you for being his vessel! Blessed Easter!
I needed this. I’ve been reading “Kisses From Katie” by Katie Davis… she’s the 22 year old founder of Amazima Ministries in Uganda, and has adopted 14 beautiful Ugandan girls as her own daughters. It has touched me so deeply, and I’ve wrestled with these very same thoughts. Thank you for being responsive to the Lord’s pull to write this post. He gave it to you for me… and a lot of other people, too.
I am so thankful you do what you do! Very blessed by your studies!
Great post. I love how you said that God made me with my DNA. Imagine what it would look like for me.
Oh thank you for this post! I have been struggling lately with this exact thing–too many voices, too many good things to be doing, what is my thing to do, why am I not doing more, etc. It becomes so simple when you put it like this. This is just one more time where you have mentored me and you don’t even know me. Thank you so much for completely surrendering to what God has called you personally to do.
What Angie said!
Me, too! Thank you, Mama Beth, for following the leading of His Spirit. You have touched my life so preciously and encouraged me greatly through Him. Looking forward to seeing you in Eugene this month. To God be the glory!
Inadequate…that one word sums up how I have been feeling about myself in the kingdom of God lately. I have spent so much time comparing my accomplishments with those of women who write and teach and create in the Christian community that I have been just about ready to crawl into a whole and hide out. (I have actually done it a time or two..in my bed not a hole but same result). Thank you for this post. I had stopped reading blogs and instagram and the like because rather than being inspired I was becoming resentful and mean spirited. But the women are not setting out to do that, they are following their calling and sharing His glory in it. I know that person you speak of, the one full of passion, I have been her before. Now I just have to figure out what brings her to life. Thank you for the push to discover what makes me love Him like nobodies business. Patty
Wednesday morning at Bible study when I heard the volume of my voice rising and pulse increasing as I talked about Gideon and what in his story I identified with, I remembered this post. My excitement discussing God’s Word with sisters in Christ is one element in what I look like when I love God with everything. Tears for others’ sorrows alone with God and my prayer list is another, one that should perhaps occur more often.
Comparison with others and even coveting the way God made them is surely a temptation, especially when one is 41 years old and still uncertain of what God means her to be when she grows up. 🙂 Thank you for this encouraging charge. May the readers and writer grow more and more in loving and being loved by God until the day we see Him face to face.
A blessed Resurrection day to the LPM family. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah!!!
Dearest Beth,
Hello! It’s been forever since I’ve been on here! Thank you for this post. I had such a similiar feeling the other day. I was reading a blog about all the human trafficing. I felt almost paralized as to what to do from my little apartment in Montana. I became overwhelmed and distressed. What should I do??? I went to the Word. God is so good. He said, “Be still and know that I am God.” He also assured me that the wicked will not go unpunished. It was just what I needed to hear. I want to be aware, I want to pray, I want to help in the ways I am able, but to know that He’s got it and that for now He’s called me to be a momma to my three little boys & wife to my man ~ it is enough.
HUGE HUGS,
Michelle
I needed that! Thank you, Beth!
Sister, you could not possibly know that you were writing that post right to my heart except for one thing, God knew that you needed to and that I needed to read it! I have felt so useless lately because I am not DOING anything (that I can see) for the Kingdom’s good. But now I know what to look for in my life and in my heart, and just because it isn’t a great thing in my human eyes, does not mean it isn’t a great thing to God. Thank you from the bottom of my God-loving heart!!!
Oh Siesta Mama!!!
might be the fastest post ever, but the Holy Spirit’s power was flying off the page as I read this post! Thank you for not putting this off until the next day. We love you so much!!
God bless YOU!!!
My favorite post ever. Bless your obedience. xoxoxoxo
Super best greetings possible to you Beth! I have to think about this one…I thought for awhile and maybe this is my passion that the Lord has put in me, but I thought for a while that I was supposed to teach women, or teen girls. I didn’t want to have the wrong motive, maybe, is the word for it, and I still don’t want to assume that I’m supposed to do something that I’m really not supposed to do, if you are following me here, I may not be making much sense…I want to help other women, precisely because I have known the depths, deep depths of need myself, and have found that He is the only answer, and His Truth found in His Word is the cure. He is. When I feel most in love with Him is when I realize how important it is to be an ambassador for Christ, to strengthen my brethren with encouragement, and to point other women to the Love the cures, heals, and saves in every way possible.
I don’t know. Flat answer.
I wonder did you know your call by the love of God it kindled or did someone come beside and encourage you to walk a way that became your call?
What if the love of God is kindled in your heart by something that apparently has no real impact on another soul alive? Can it still be a call?
Are we all called to be seen?
If I’m not seen does it mean I missed Jesus?
I’m really wondering.
Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this truth. It’s a struggle I share with so many I’m confident. I”m finally learning as an “older woman” that I can and should only do what my Lord has called me to. I long to to do more, to meet more needs, to participate in more ministries (stop human trafficking, being one). Now when I’m moved, I pray, asking Him to move hearts to obey to go to the field that is white for harvest where He has prepared for their service in His kingdom work. … And I continue to make every effort to listen to my Shepherd’s voice and follow Him where He is leading me, allowing Him to heal & encourage & use me as He chooses.
Praise our glorious risen Lord. He alone is worthy!
This is the third time I have come back to read this post so I thought I should go ahead and leave a comment. It really could not have been more timely for me. I have been praying so much for an authentic faith that is based on what God has done in my life and the grace he has shown me and not my imitation of what I think my faith should look like based on what I see in others. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this word! I haven’t been so encouraged in a long time.
This was so good and brought tears to my eyes. We compare and compare ourselves to others. It’s so much easier to do this with social media because we know what everyone else is doing at every moment. For me this is so closely tied to motivation…are we looking for praise from social media too much. Lots to pray about.
You know I had this very same thought. I write. I do little studies. I learn. And Lord knows how I’ve overcome and how much I have to overcome yet.
But the thing is I have followed people who are seen and modeled after them in some forms. Been inspired in ways even. And I send my works to email contacts which for me is minimal. And facebook sometimes…which is still nominal. And people may somtimes like it but thats about the extent.
It occured to me that my motivation is (and it is) to serve Jesus. But that there is a deeper pride issue that wants to be recognized. And celebrated. And adored. I know Beth wrote once that such a thing is even how we are made. I don’t take it having recognized it and desire to kill it. But I have found that I need to give the glory to Jesus. If I write and only I am in fact changed by my study…then well…my daughter and my fiance will reap from that. And I have to trust God to reap as He wills and desires.
Blessings to all.
Lisa C, Washington, IN
Phil 4:13 NIV
“I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength.”
My dear Beth,
Oh how I needed that, how I needed that!! Thank you, thank you Sister. I appreciate your honesty and humility and I just love you so much too. God Bless you dear Friend!
Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:4 NIV
WOW and does He!
Precious Beth, I can’t tell you how very much this post means to me. I struggle so often with knowing exactly where God would have me serve Him. Like you, I look around and am often overwhelmed by all of the need for ministry in this broken world. But He hasn’t called me to EVERYTHING! Thank you for your encouragement to love Him with all of my heart, soul, strength and mind. I do! And I will trust that as I love Him wholly, He will reveal how He wants me to serve. You are loved Beth!
Thanks Beth, I have felt restless in my spirit to go beyond, to let go and let God. Your words were of great importance to
me.:)
Beth,
That was so encouraging. Thank you for those words. I am so glad that he made us all different.
“watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flows the spring of life Prov 4:23 NASB
You will never know how much I needed that. Time and time again in my life, God has used you to speak to me very clearly, whether it’s been through video, blog, or book. Thank you for your obedience to Him!
Beth,
Thank you for sharing this. I’ve never commented on a blog before, but I wanted to thank you for being willing to “spit it out there” in obedience. I thought I knew my calling, from the age of 6, to practice in a profession I loved, felt useful in, and could serve/minister in. As I became ill,I remained fiercely independent and “thought” I could work through anything, that God couldn’t possibly allow this to occur. I was wrong. Now, I am chronically ill and unable to work or drive. My current struggle is for validity. Maybe that is the issue – there is no personal validity – only God’s purpose. Your question: “What do you look like when you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength?” is the heart of it, isn’t it? The problem is, sadly, that I don’t REALLY know. I thought I knew before…but now I clearly do not. I keep going back to the song “I’m Still Yours” by Kutless. I want so much to KNOW, for me, the answers to your question and to the questions in that song. I am wrestling with Him. I ask for your prayers and thank you for doing what He has revealed to you to do.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I often wonder who I see in the mirror because I see other peoples gifts…I want to see me loving Jesus…looking a bit more like Him!
I’ve posted already but I had to post again. Yesterday I was at a workshop and I thought about what you said, “If you love Him with your whole heart and your whole heart bursts to…”, this workshop brought me so much joy just because of the subject matter. Every time I have an opportunity to learn about other cultures, be around many different cultures and languages it makes me so happy (this is second to learning the Word of God of course). I just don’t know if that is God given or if it is my own stuff. I am hoping God will reveal to me and show me how I can be around it more often..to glorify Him in the work at the same time! Thanks again for this message!
I am almost in tears as I finished this post. Oh my…such a timely word. Thank you, Mrs. Beth! I have been one to bring such self-condemnation on myself because I let my mind tell me that I should be doing bigger, better, MORE things that God has not even called me to. This was a liberating post for me. Thank you, Lord! This has refocused my mind and my heart to love Jesus with the calling HE’S given to me.
First time reader/commenter…beautiful. Thank you.
As a blogger who is a Christian, I feel this ALL the time because my blog is not overtly “Christian”, nor is it a “faith blog.” Yet I love Jesus deeply and desire for the blog to reflect Him. I had to quit reading many of the faith blogs I was reading bc my mind was doing crazy tricks on me, convincing me I was selling out by posting food or home decor or anything non-faith-related. After nearly a year away, I can now read my favorites, glean wonderful truths from those blogs, and still feel okay about the path God is taking me in my own little space on the web.
Thanks for this post!
Amanda
A scripture that’s been jumping at me for the last few days is so fitting, and you just gave it brighter meaning:
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days. (1 Peter 1:17-20)
Oooo, howdy! This post hit me smack across the head. How beautiful! I am guilty of questioning whether I am doing enough. I need to remember that HE is always all I need and as long as I am striving to be more like my audience of ONE, it is enough. Best short and fast post ever!!!!!
wow, that was so powerful, I read it intensly. And I thank you so much. I am Ali’s Mother in law. what a blessing you are.
Thank you! I’m a missionary/stay at home mom in Guatemala and sometimes I think what in the world am I doing to make any difference at all! Like you said though, loving God makes the difference…in our families and in those around us and for His Kingdom. Praise God!
I just want to say…I NEEDED THIS!!! THANK YOU for letting it spill out …God intended it to!!!
Could so relate to this! I find myself sometimes trying to play spiritual “one up you” with others. Needed this encouragement as my husband and I seek whats next in our
lives. So many great things to be involved in, but what is God’s path for me and for us as a couple.
Beth,
Thank you for your obedience! So needed this message!
Thank you Beth – for sharing the inspiration you’re given – you are a blessing and I am a better person for hearing the Word thru you. I appreciate you so much. God bless you abundantly!
YES. and thanks…
Thank you. Perfect BIBLICAL WISDOM from the greatest commandment in WORD: To LOVE HIM W/ our all…! what also came to my mind after reading your blog…based on LOVE …IN HIM…we move and have HIS BEING! Such A TREASURE!
I have been praying to LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL MY HEART, SOUL, MIND and STRENGTH and to love my neighbor as myself, every day for a while. Thank you for encouraging this prayer. Acts 9:6 Paul prayed “LORD, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME TO DO”. I have been praying that now for more than a week…. Thank you for your wise, BIBLICAL insights and thoughts! IN CHRIST and FOR HIS GLORY AND GRACE TO ABOUND, Deborah Mott
Wanted to add…Thankful that THE LORD HAS YOU right where you are supposed to be!!!! The ministry OF LIVING AND BEING LIVING PROOF OF THE GOSPEL and teaching the TRUTH of the WORD with HIS SPIRIT, depending on HIM, BECAUSE YOU LOVE, trust and obey HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH, your words, actions, authenticity and LIVING TRUTH EVIDENCES THIS! Your living the proof… before us is amazing and full of grace, humility, CHRIST-LIKENESS!!!! Thank you! Jude 24-25!