Will this year be an exceptional one of unusual testimonies and exploits? It’s been said that your destiny is not fulfilled until you hold in your hands your own little book. God is showing us our own book and, when we turn the leaves of these pages, I pray for faith to leap in us to believe.
I’ll soon be 59 years old and, like my husband, we’re both inching towards the big 6-0. I’m a good 20 years into the second half of my life if, by reason of strength, I live to 80 years. God is leading me to the finishing line, so there’s an urgency for me to live wisely and well as there are fewer days in front of me than behind. How I live from this time will shape eternity more than ever. The fact that I know God desires for us to know Him intimately must be a cause for great optimism and hope.
There are days when I can’t understand why God would call me His own. He knows me through and through as the psalmist said in Ps 139, “All my days were ordained before me and He has written every one of them in His book.” That’s how much we’re on His heart. He’s the God of my childhood, my teenage years, marriage, and parenting years.
And, having road signs along the journey have been most helpful – signposts for different situations like the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, to know the opened and closed doors, throwing ‘fleeces’, and seeking wise counsel. Still, we may not always get it right, missing a left or right turn but, when we seek Him, we find ourselves in the very centre of God’s will.
Knowing the mystery of God’s will and understanding His purpose makes a valuable difference in our lives. Open doors that leave us surprised, and the doors God closes that are not the best for us. God’s grand plan affects the way we see opportunities, trials, joys, hopes, and worries.
Our willingness to endure suffering or our boldness to pursue risky situations for the Gospel are all part of His plan. Both wisdom and experience come at a cost and I don’t want to be figuring out at this time what and how life is to be lived. It’s not to repeat mistakes once made and to give thanks for the lessons learned, experiences gained and the wisdom that comes through living life.
So, let’s be clear what we’re here on earth to accomplish – it’s to be surrounded by people who carry the same intensity of resolve to get the work done. To surround yourselves with lions who are on the same mission and who know their God, for “The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (Dan 11:32). People with faces of lions as in “mighty men of valour, men trained for battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains” (1 Chron 12:8-9).
These are times we need to move with lions and be bold, to be with people of exception so as to rise above the norms of society, to do exceptional and distinct exploits in the name of Jesus. Limitations will come off when we step into the unlimited realm of God! Our breakthroughs must be a springboard for even greater breakthroughs in the Kingdom of God.
