The Journey…

Yesterday was my birthday and birthdays are such a great time to reflect on how far you have come. One thing I can say is that life usually makes much more sense when you look back at the different seasons of your life than when you are currently going through them. There are things that may appear big to you as you are going through them that when you later reflect on them, they look so small and insignificant, then there are things that may look small to you as you are going through them that then appear mighty big when you look back on them.

One scenario, for example, stands out to me as I think of this. This is when I was still an intern at the organization I mentioned the last time. There was an Executives Strategy Getaway at one point where only the executives in the company were to go to a resort close by and stay there for a couple of days as they come up with the strategies needed to move the company forward in the next quarter and year and I, somehow, was singled out as the only person who was not an executive to also go on this trip for the purposes of taking minutes of everything that would be discussed there.

Back then I didn’t think much into it but now that I look back at it, what favor that was to be singled out in the whole company to be the one that goes where only executives were going. Yes, I was just there to take minutes but that meant I was in every session where they would discuss highly confidential information which took a level of trust in my discretion. Besides that, this was my first time ever at a resort in my life, and it was an all expenses paid one! I ate what the executives where eating, I slept where the executives were sleeping without needing to be one and I pretty much got to connect with some of these people that I would have otherwise not had a chance to go beyond ‘good morning’ with.

What particularly stands out the most to me was the time we got into breakout teams to deliberate certain strategies and I was asked to present our team’s ideas on behalf of our team. I literally lit up and presented it so eloquently, clearly and confidently that almost everyone present was taken by surprise, including myself. These were executives; the CEOs, the CFOs, the what-have-yous, and I was just me, the intern taking minutes, so where was this confidence coming from really? At that point, and a little bit still now, or perhaps even a lot still, I am that quiet person that you might not hear say much in any setting, but boy, do I light up when you put me in front of people! It is very ironic because if you can’t say much with a smaller crowd, how are you confident in front of a much bigger one right?

God works in very mysterious ways that most times cannot be explained. One of my major purposes in life that God has created and called me to do is speak in front of people so without needing to do much, I tend to flourish in that regard because He knit me together that way. I genuinely tend to constantly find myself having to stand in front of people as terrifying as that tends to be and this trip was clearly another practice ground for that. I will not preempt future blog posts by expanding on what I mean by this but truly, I am called to speak to crowds of people and perhaps also listen to people more on a 1:1 basis than do the talking myself which makes sense with my quiet personality.

Psalm 139:13-14 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

God created us so fearfully and wonderfully and I believe this includes how He wove into us the needed skills or personality or natural know-how to fulfill our purposes. Many times, He keeps dropping hints to us throughout our journey of life that if you took time to reflect on your own journey, you will realize that there are certain things that you have always been good at or drawn to without trying too hard that are essential to your journey and purpose.

In fact, I was laughing the other day and saying to my husband (we haven’t gotten to that part yet, but yap, I am married now) that I think God is an exceptional events planner, the best in the business even. This is because there is just a way that God very patiently orchestrates events in our lives to add to our destiny and purpose in life. I especially said this after I had realized that for a long time, God had been orchestrating events in my own life that seemed unrelated to me as they were happening that I can now see were very much related and were all adding to one big puzzle.

I have even come to realize that even the Bible is a collection of many people’s journeys that I believe they themselves never knew would end up in the Bible to be read by many generations. They never thought their challenges and triumphs could be used as a blueprint by billions of people to eternity. When Hannah was praying for a son, she never knew every other woman struggling to conceive would look to her story for encouragement, when Ruth was getting married to Boaz, she never knew her story would become a source of hope to single women looking forward to marriage. When Sarah was submitting to her husband, Abraham, she never knew that women would much later look to her story for the grace to submit during some seemingly impossible circumstances. When David was worshiping the Lord in psalms and hymns and stringed instruments, he never knew we would ever quote his exact words to worship God too.

The point is your journey usually seems like your own and sometimes looks like it is not much, but it really is much and more to God and His purposes in the earth. God is invested in seeing you succeed in life and seeing you fulfill your destiny. Not only is He willing to give Jesus’ blood for that to become a reality, which He already did, and invest the Holy Spirit to dwell in you to make your success and thriving a reality, which He also already made available, He is also readily available to orchestrate the necessary events and “coincidences” to help you fulfill your destiny time and again.

Isaiah 43:1-4 (MSG) But now, God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.

I am yet to see someone that God intended to use in whatever capacity that He didn’t take through a process. For example, David had to kill the lion and the bear to be able to conquer Goliath, and Joseph had to interpret the dreams of prisoners to get to a place that he could interpret the dreams of a king. He also had to learn how to manage the affairs of the household of Potiphar before he could manage the affairs of Egypt as a nation. Both these people could have trivialized how they had the capacity and grace to do these things in the first place when there was yet to be a big opportunity that everyone could see. It is God who made those bears and lions available to kill and those prisoners’ dreams available to interpret, because He had bigger plans ahead for them.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—that’s what I had in mind for you.”

I guess my major encouragement to someone who wonders what their purpose or destiny is, is appreciate the things that come to you naturally that do not seem to come naturally to everyone else. It does not even have to be something big. Fall in love with your own life journey, it may not be rosy but it sure has had roses along the way. You may not even know how your story can be a huge encouragement to the next person but it absolutely can be. Remember, the best person to trust with directions to a place is a person who has been there before. There are things in your life that you have been through that will strengthen and encourage the next person as much as they will also be useful to you, do not minimize or trivialize them. When the opportunity comes to use them to help the next person, use them.

Also, if you are good at certain honorable things, make use of every opportunity to use them again and again and again. Sometimes, the people around you are the ones who identify these gifts in you first before you do, listen to them when they point them out. You too, tell people of the gifts you see in them, more often than not, they don’t even know that they have such gifts or that they are anything to write home anyway. As I close, my prayer for you is that may the Lord help you notice the gifts that are in alignment with your destiny and may He create opportunities for them to shine and be sharpened as you put them to practice in the earth.

PRAYER

Lord thank You for Your wisdom that is seen not only in the way you created us but also in the opportunities You make available to us to become who You created us to be. I pray for the person reading this, that they may have a new awe and reverence for the way You created them and for the journey You have been taking them through to this point. I pray that their eyes are opened to their gifts, especially those that are key to their assignment in the earth. May opportunities be made available to them to sharpen these gifts. May they realize it soon enough that it is You who endowed them with these gifts. May they be effective and efficient in stewarding these gifts in Jesus name. Amen.