July 27th, 2020
The start of this week I have been reflecting upon a sermon I heard Steven Furtick speak on this past Sunday about how impeccable God is and how God’s timing is all His own. There is nothing like it and it is not measured by our human time frame for sure. And Steven Furtick kept saying how God’s timing and schedule is
“Un-schedule-able” is what he called yet by making up a new word. Yet it really stood out to me that is exactly what my walk of faith and journey with God has been ever since I accepted Christ. Now granted I do not have a fancy salvation story and nothing dramatic brought me to my knees except for the fact that my mom helped lead me to Jesus. I grew up in a wonderful Christian home in the Midwest and abundantly loved by my older brother and parents who home-schooled us. However, there were others in my life who came and gone that wanted me to believe I was late in the game of life whether it had to do with having a hear loss when I was younger or with gymnastics, or even music in wanting to learn to sing many wrote me off and passed up the opportunity to teach someone who wanted to develop a gift.
And yet along the way God put two different music teachers that changed my life forever and truly poured their hearts out to teach a young girl to come out of her shell and share a gift that God gave her. One was a wonderful voice teacher and one was a piano teacher.
So what would that have anything to do with Un-schedule-able moments well I didn’t find those teachers right away it took searching and determination and grit and most of all God’s timing which can’t be scheduled remember. Then looking furthering after high school graduation there was a time where I thought music performance was what I was supposed to do and what God was calling me to so I pushed forward and looked at secular colleges to pursue music and even looked at Christian colleges when I lived in Tennessee for awhile, but God soon put a rude awakening upon my heart and showed me that wasn’t right. So my journey to college was a bit delayed and took longer to find the right one.
Now some kept telling me you have to figure where your going and what you want to do in life, and God was saying hold on a minute there girly slow down and breathe I got you covered and I have you right where I want you and need you. Stop trying to control things and have everything organized my timing is perfect and never late.
Basically, bottom line I rushed ahead of God at times and needed to slow down to breathe to catch my breath. Plus I needed to slow down so God could increase my faith and teach me that my journey is not a race I won’t win, but one where He and I join together to win. And that I am not competing with anyone and no one is my rival. Many times throughout my life whether it had to do with music or gymnastics when I was much younger there was a point that came where I had to decide do I stay in this zone and compete to win and for attention or do I bow out and follow hard after God and let him take the wheel.
Most of you are probably wondering which did I choose, well in regards to music gymnastics and other things in life where people wanted me to believe that I was late too the game or that it was too late to do things, well they were wrong. God has proven himself true over and over so many times I have lost count of the “un-schedule-able” moments I have had with God now.
It is quite stunning to see over and over again how God can use the unlikely people to reveal his love and glory in unlikely moments, and how God can use his grace to allow his love to illuminate the hidden places in our hearts that need to be exposed of sin of any kind including pride. Christine Caine gives a beautiful quote on how God can use anyone one to glorify him. “God not only chooses us for himself-he also choose us to do his good works on earth. The amazing thing is that, throughout Scripture and history, it seems that God has chosen the most unlikely and unqualified people to fulfill his plan and purpose on the earth. Most often, the repose of those people has been to insist on their own unworthiness.”(Caine, 2012 Undaunted pg. 58).
Which is displayed throughout the whole Bible in its entirety from Genesis to Revelation with Adam and Eve to King David to the brith of Jesus and his ministry with the disciples and then the ministry of the Apostles. It is also displayed throughout my life as well.
During the time I was searching and seeking God to see where he called me I kept telling him I was unworthy and not qualified to go into ministry at first I thought I would do music ministry and be on a worship team so I wash searching and searching places in middle Tennessee close to Nashville for almost a year in trying to put roots down, but no doors opened everything was slamming shut not even a window opened. So It wasn’t until I found a small Bible college in Grand Rapids Michigan, where God revealed where he truly wanted me. Which was youth ministry, and mentoring young teenage girls to pursue Christ and lead them to live set apart as how God created each one of us.
Yep you guessed it, I moved back to Michigan where home is truly at and followed hard after God and his calling on my life for ministering to young girls, and teaching them about Jesus. Yet even though the calling is still there and circumstances has changed and even though God has shifted my heart to reaching women now more than youth ministry. The lesson is still there I have to choose to be obedient to Christ and submit to him. I still have to slow down and breathe and let his truth drench my heart and soul so that I can glorify him. And so my journey of faith can lead others to Christ, by displaying how God uses unlikely people to fulfill his plan, and to display his timing can’t be scheduled on human time it is “un-schedule-able” but it is also impeccable.
“There has also been many times where I have had moments with God where He has illuminated hidden things in my heart that needed to be removed before I could journey on to mentor others. His light needed to expose the broken places in my heart that needed mending from past hurts and rejections. God has miraculous timing in fixing my heart and preparing me for what is next even though I couldn’t see it, He could. His steadfast love needed to fill places I didn’t even know were empty but then His light is and love is so illuminating that it outshines all other light on this earth.” -Elizabeth Hughes, 2020)
Moreover, we must remember and what I have learned in this journey with God is that he made me one of a kind there is no one else on this earth like me and I may not be as fast as some and I maybe the unlikely chosen to do things in life, but it is not about how fast I run this race of life but how I do it.
Lisa Bevere says that, “It is ultimately not about our pace but how we finish the race.”(Bevere, 2016, Without Rival pg. 197). Even when people around us say we are late to the game of life or that it is too late to start something. It is not up to them it is between you and God. So you have to ask yourself who are you going to listen too and who are you going to let speak over your life? What are you going to believe about yourself? Are you going to believe the truth God speaks over you, or what someone else’s opinion is and what they are comparing it too. I urge you to look at things with context and to seek God and his truth in Scripture. There is one thing that I remember vividly that God spoke over me years ago and it was man will fail you, but I will not fail you. To this very day I remember God whispering that over my heart and it has proven true.
References
Bevere, Lisa, 2016, Without Rival, Embrace Your Identity and Purpose in an age of confusion and comparison, Revell Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
Caine, Christine, 2012, Undaunted Daring to do what God calls you to do, Zondervan Publishing Grand Rapids, Michigan,
Comments