Unleashed

I've been meaning to write about the devotions I've been working through this week. Our church is currently doing a series called "Unleashed." Our pastor is preaching on our calling as a church, to individually do our part in making Jesus famous. He challenged us with the question "What is God  calling you to?" In his sermon this week, Pastor Jimmy said that he believes that we are all church planters..not that we are all called to actually plant a church,  but to help in the mission of making Him famous. Along with Jimmy's messages, like I said...our church put out a devotional to work through over the next 30 days or so.  I've committed myself to work through these and really focus on what God has called me to.

I'm asking myself 2 questions..."Who has God called me to be" and "How can I be that person & pursue my calling?" I think I already know what he has called me to...Matt & I work at Journey and so we have a HUGE task on our hands, but am I doing it as efficiently as I should? Am I juggling my calling as a wife, mom, and assistant as efficiently as I should?  I'm really trying to focus and zone in on these questions. Maybe there is something else that I'm ignoring, but I'm pretty sure this is it. I've got to learn to balance my responsibilities at Journey with my new family of 4, plus all the other things in life.

This week I've been challenged with my time, am I using my time efficiently? There's dishes to be done, shopping for our family, kids to take care of and laundry to be done (of course there's more...this is just the short list and when I go back to work in 3 weeks, there will be more) If I'm not spending time with the Lord before all of these things, I'm trying to do it on my own. I know this...I've known this since surrendering my life to Christ. But I must surrender daily. I've already learned that I can't do these things on my own...not to the best of my ability...and I'm certainly not glorifying the Lord with these tasks of life if I'm not giving the day to him. Someone will make me mad or something will irritate me and I will lose it... If I'm a heir to the throne, I must act like it...(Ephesians 1 & 2) This means my life must glorify the one who gave His life for ME. So, this week I'm working on my priorities. In Philippians 3:8, Paul writes that "everything else should be considered garbage when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ." Ouch! I certainly don't prioritize my life like this...if only I had the faith that Paul had. He goes on to say in verses 12-16 that he knows he isn't perfect, but that he strives to be like Christ until he finishes the race." I have so much to learn and a long ways to go in order to be like Christ, but I'm thankful for the calling that I have and that is to get to know him more so that I can be like Christ.

I've rambled enough, if you get a chance, follow along with our sermon here and the devotions here...I promise you, your life will be changed!