Created For a Purpose

Is there anyone else out there that feels like your living in one of those cheesy episodes of the Twilight Zone series? Do you remember that TV show? The early ones were filmed in black and white with “B” rated special effects and featured celebrities that were well known for “overacting”. The 1961 episode I recall the clearest featured Billy Mummy. He was found to have the power to turn someone into a jack-in-the-box if they annoyed him in any way.  Billy could disintegrate an innocent bystander with just one evil look.    The cameraman would focus on Billy’s threatening face, then zoom out to the results of his wrath. Yep, showing my age again.

How about this? The same Billy Mummy now is dressed in a spacesuit. He is running away from an extraterrestrial as we hear “danger Will Robinson” in the background. Same actor, but now he is the chased and not the chaser.

Most of us currently living in America are still pretty much “sheltering in place”. We remain hunkered-down in hopes of avoiding COVID-19, or, God forbid, unknowingly passing on this illness to a loved one. Washing our hands until they are raw as we overpay for items that had very little value fifty days ago is now considered normal behavior. We seem to be living in a 2020 “Lost In Space” movie fleeing from an unknown enemy.  An enemy with just one look can turn anyone into a helpless jack in the box.

A little lost are we all, especially me

Are you experiencing a love-hate relationship with the “news” and social media? I find that I cannot seem to get enough of listening to self-proclaimed experts and reading editorial opinions. Throughout the day I scroll my Facebook page looking for articles that reveal new information or validate my current opinion or bent. In the evening, I find after an hour of weaving in between polar opposite news stations, I still don’t have a true grasp of what is happening in the world.  I experience no satisfaction, no peace, no clearer understanding after I’ve gorged myself on other people’s ramblings.   I have been catching myself singing the words to a popular John Cash song from 1971  “and the lonely voice of youth cries, ‘what is truth?’ ” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0KQWTBljjg

I do not consider myself a “navel gazer”

Is that expression even used anymore?  I have found the only way I can know my real heart, my genuine motifs, or the whys of my behavior are going to the One who knows me best.  The One who created me is the only One who truly knows me. I cannot be sure of the condition of my own heart, but God can lead me to the truth.

“You have searched me Lord and you know me” Psalms 139:1

Spending time in the presence of God, and drinking in the truth of His word empowers me.

Both these disciplines unlock the door I have bolted shut, shining a bright light on my heart. God’s Word is also described in this way:

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”. Hebrews 4:12

Scripture strips away my ability and necessity to create a bigger than life picture of myself. His Word magnifies the truth about the condition of my heart and soul. God’s Word is kind because it is the only True North. It is also harsh; because it contains no shadows, no gray areas, and allows no turning a blind eye to anything in me that is unholy.

When I ask, and I’m willing to sacrifice the Photoshop view of myself, God graciously grants my request for truth. This truth I humbly share with all of you.

The twenty-first century offers knowledge at our fingertips for anyone over the age of eight. This brave new world of information idolatry has created an environment that seemingly loathes anyone not on top of the latest information.  It now looks with pity on anyone who can not site the latest COVID-19 deaths or statistics.  Those who are ignorant of the most recent suspicious activity of our political leaders are considered lost.  Unfortunately,  I have allowed these firmly-held beliefs to diminish my purpose and giftedness. Society’s great expectations have created dissatisfaction in me and disappointment in how God wired me. Sometimes I loath my inability to articulate the latest and greatest newsworthy information. I’m often troubled at my inability to debate any particular side of the latest pressing issue.

But my Father has once again reminded me to embrace the woman he created me to be.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10

The truth about my assignment down here is pretty uncomplicated. God has placed me in this place at this time for His glory, and His purpose. He has made me his daughter, with the ability to hear His voice and a Spirit that craves His presence. I’ve been given the heart of a daughter, mother, wife, and friend. He has wired me to draw close to those who are nearing death.   To embrace the brevity of life on this planet and midwife my patients into eternity. 

 I enjoy the unique honor of alleviating physical suffering with modern medicine and spiritual suffering with prayers and empathetic listening.    If God’s plan for me were to debate truth versus lies, He would have made me more articulate or given me the gift of gab. If he wanted me to repair broken machinery or lead a nation, He would have provided the skills I needed.  But in His wisdom, He made me the way I am. And who am I to say that isn’t enough? God’s Word describes His Church like this:

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body” I Corinthians 12:15-20

So, my friend, I encourage you to embrace and develop the man or woman you know God created you to be.

Celebrate your uniqueness and live out your marching orders.  Do not let anyone but the God who created you determine your purpose or your worth.  I encourage you to stand firm, do not allow the world, and its shifting ideals and expectations mold you into the person you were not created or gifted to be.  With this in mind, you can live your life with purpose, fully and effectively.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” Galatians 6:9

Shalom,

Karen