S7 E2: Your Purpose Isn't One Thing... It's Everything You Are

Hey Everyone! Missed you last week. I had planned on releasing this last Thursday but we were dealing with the storm Ian in our state and it just didn’t feel right so I decided to wait. Thankfully the storm continued to move east and didn’t affect us as much as they thought it might at one time. But our thoughts and prayer are still with so many who suffered so much loss from this storm.

I posted a reel a week or so ago and it was to a new song out by Jen Johnson called Let my life be worship. I shared some moments of my day and My caption read” worship involves all that we are…everyday…in every way.

I think I would have always said this is something I believed but this truth has been a prominent theme these past 2 decades of my life.

It was a truth that was definitely more head knowledge than a complete understanding of confidently living it out in my everyday life.

I love looking back at the beginning of scripture to study and think about God’s original intention for mankind.

As a child, I had this image of God up in the skies and all of his creation “underneath and far away” from him. I believed he loved his creation and was powerful and protective and a faithful provider but very high and far away from his creation.

But the more I have spent time in these passages the more that view has changed. I still see an all-powerful God. But alongside that, I see a Fathers love and desire for a family. A son and a daughter he can spend time with …

I love the scriptures that talk about God and Adam and Eve Talking together in the cool of the day.

There was a  closeness and intimacy… a nearness.

As someone who grew up in a pastor's home and was involved in ministry my whole life…

I’ve noticed People change when they walk into a church building. Now some would say it’s out of respect and reverence and I’m sure that’s part of it.  

But I’ve sometimes wondered if it’s because of this idea of an up-there, high-in-the-sky mindset that we all can have about God. As much as we long for him to be near it can make us kind of nervous.

I wonder if shame is a big part of it…after all that is what made Adam and Eve ultimately hide from God.

Whatever the case might be for each of us. The struggle or lack of understanding is on our end. God always desires to be in a relationship with us. He never wants us to feel far from him. Scripture tells us to draw near or come close to God and he will come close to us. He created us for relationship with him.

Something else that stands out to me in these first chapters of Genesis is the way Adam and Eve loved and worshipped God their creator was by being the man and the woman he designed and created them to be. 

In Genesis chapter 1 it says:

God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them

    reflecting our nature

So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,

    the birds in the air, the cattle,

And, yes, Earth itself,

    and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”

God created human beings;

    he created them godlike,

Reflecting God’s nature.

    He created them male and female.

God blessed them:

    “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!

I love that! They reflected God’s nature in the world and walked in the life and authority he had breathed into them and that was honoring to God.

Years ago I was having lunch with a friend that had attended the church where my husband had been on staff and we were very involved in the music and worship department. She actually played the piano for us most of the time and had been part of many of our conversations and experiences around music and worship. This particular lunch was a year or so into our moving to a new city and planting a church. At some point, she asked me about us leading worship and I explained to her that we were meeting in living rooms and coffee shops and that worship looked different these days.  I can’t remember her exact words it was something like I can’t even imagine you not leading and singing. That is such a big part of who you are.

And she was right it had been and was…

I recently had a conversation recently this same friend.  I reminded her of what she had said to me years ago and how that had stayed in my mind. She kind of got a funny look hoping she hadn’t offended me and I had been thinking about it all this time haha. I assured her that wasn’t the case. But what she had said to me that day did hit me in a way that made me think and that thinking continued through the years.  So 20 years later I brought back up that question and said that day you asked me about worship and said you couldn’t imagine singing and leading worship not being a big part of my life. And here’s what I’ve realized I am as passionate about worship as I ever was it’s just with my whole life now.

In the podcast intro, I say something that you may or may not have noticed. I say I want this to be a space where you hear the whispers of the divine and that you are reminded of things that I believe you already know.  

And what I mean by that is I truly believe that we came into this world wired for the plans and purposes God has for us. And little by little life causes us to push down and alter who we so freely were at one time and conform to what we see around us or what is deemed acceptable to those around us.

What is so beautiful and exciting is when we start paying attention to the Holy Spirit's work in our life and when we are finding our true identity in Christ alone we will begin to trust his design and plan for our life and its a beautiful remembering of who we are in Him.

Being who he designed us to be is our ultimate worship of God.  It brings our creator such joy and glory to see us living in the authority and life he purposed us for.

When I think back to when I was a little girl and what I spent my time doing when it was being a mother to all my babydolls. I led pretend choirs, I sang in the pretend choirs. I made up and performed in many musical productions.

Even though my daughters have been in performing arts most of their lives. And even though I’ve put that passion to use being in productions and leading things through the years I’ve had moments where I thought maybe I missed it because that wasn’t a road I fully pursued to go down.

But now at this point in my life, I can look back at all of the different things that I naturally did that lit me up and it all comes down to different expressions in telling a story. I love many different expressions in telling the greatest story in the world!

And for me now personally I’m not so caught up in the specific vehicle that the expression may come through but that it comes through…

So that’s what I want to ask you today…

What is wanting to come out of you?

And I no longer think it’s one thing.  I think it’s everything!  Everything that you are!

We can get so caught up in what is my purpose and what has called me to do and he’s called you to be You!

When the creator of the universe fashioned and formed you it was for a reason.  Your voice, and your desires are all part of his plan.  From the beginning, he invited us to be co-laborers and co-cultivators with him.

Everything we put our hand to should be worship and bring honor to our God. Worship was never intended to be confined to a worship set list on a particular day of the week. Nothing wrong with that! But that is one expression. What if we took on that same mindset and intention of worship in all the moments of our days…

What if we had this same posture of worship when we were scrambling eggs to feed ourselves or our loved ones?

What if some of this same awe was experienced when we saw the morning sun breaking through the dark reminding us that our God is the one who keeps this whole universe spinning?  That will make me throw up my hands in the middle of the sidewalk!!

Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment to raise a hallelujah.  Or you just might find yourself waiting forever… Instead, offer up your hallelujah in whatever moment you find yourself in and watch your moment change.

I’ve been in powerful services where the power of God has been tangible

Yet still, to this day the most powerful encounters I have had personally with God have been in the midst of piles of laundry, screaming kids, I could go on…

The point is God will meet you where you are….whatever season you are in.

Draw close to him and he will draw close to you.

I mentioned in the last episode how the season of Fall is a beautiful invitation to closeness and cozy and home. And I encourage you again this week to be intentional about letting things that need to fall away ..fall away. 

Let’s continue to open our hearts and draw near to God and experience his peace and presence as he comes close to us.

Love you guys! Talk soon