Purpose Livin Strife

What is my purpose? Have you ever asked yourself this question? I have.
A lot of people have shared their struggle with me of feeling they don't know theirs. I have heard many times from the pulpit the saying “know your purpose” and have used a similar expression myself. Most people have heard of or read the book The Purpose Driven Life. This jewel has nothing to do with that book I'm just using it as an example.
My point is people, myself included, seem to get anxious if they think they aren't fulfilling their purpose. They get restless when they feel it's taking too long for their purpose to start. They get fearful if they think they missed their purpose or worse yet aren't good enough for a purpose.
The thing is Gems I meet Christians who feel inadequate in their walk because they don't think they're living their purpose and the worst part is they have no idea what that purpose is! Like God is playing some kind of mind game with them. Again I have been guilty of this very thing.
We start comparing ourselves to other people who we think have not only figured theirs out but are doing it.
I started really praying about this and I was surprised by what answer I felt the Holy Spirit gave me.
The first thing He asked me was where in the Bible did I read about “purpose?”
I couldn't answer that question.
I realized I never actually read it in the Bible I just heard it in sermons or teachings.
I decided to search the Bible but couldn't find any teaching, New or Old Testament that we were born with a certain purpose and we better figure out what it is before Jesus comes back.
If I missed it PLEASE share.
The Holy Spirit told me that God only asked us to do one thing and that was to believe.
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
God created all of us and He will decide what purpose He wants to use us in, not the other way around.
What I mean is God's not waiting in Heaven for me to figure out the plan and purpose for my life He's got it all on lock down and when His plan includes me, He will let me know.
Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Some of us might be used like a David or an Esther and some of us might just be common folk but we are all special in the Kingdom of God.
The last thing Christ told His disciples to do was to share the gospel with the rest of the world. I guess that could be considered a purpose and it's pretty self explanatory right? Tell people why they should believe in Jesus.
So why all this focus and anxiety on knowing your purpose, what your supposed to be doing????
Back to my conversation with the Holy Spirit.
After clearing up that I was struggling with something that wasn't taught from the Bible He reminded me that the goal is to have your desires and the Lords be the same thing. The more we are seeking God and wanting to do the things that please Him the more He can give us the desires of our heart because we will desire the same things.
So if I'm going to use this purpose thing, my first purpose would be to learn what the heart of God is and then make that a goal for my heart as well.
He said once we are on the same page I should enjoy my life.
WHAT????? Enjoy my life? That's the answer?
I gotta tell you Gems it was short and sweet and it made all the sense in the world to me.
It's not some mystery that only the super spiritual will be able to figure out. It's reading the Bible to learn and understand how much God loves you. It's about meeting Jesus and the Holy Spirit and loving them more than yourself. That in itself is a daily plan.
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm not saying we shouldn't be in constant prayer for our life. There are times we are waiting on God for a decision or direction. We may be waiting for answers or confirmation ,there are a list of things you may be waiting to hear from God on BUT these are not your purpose they are HIS! I'm also not talking about using your gifts for the Kingdom, when an opportunity presents itself go for it.
God has been using people for His purpose from the beginning. He used Adam to start man kind and He used Eve to begin the plan for salvation. He used Moses to bring His people out of Egypt and He used Pharaoh to try and keep them there. They were used by God for His purpose but I don't' think they walked around asking themselves the question, why am I here. They were living their lives and God used them. His purpose may be exciting and fun or it can be down right painful.
He used Jesus John 12:27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
This jewel is a reminder to me and maybe you too that we can stop saying things like “I don't know what God want's me to do.” He wants you to experience the joy of your salvation. Learn what you can from every place your at. He wants to remind us we can't work into our purpose, you become it as soon as you accept Christ as your Savior. You become a light in a dark world wherever you are at any given moment. Live, laugh, love, make friends, get married, be single, work with animals, have children do all things in a way that would please your Father in Heaven.
The Bible wasn't written about us finding our purpose so we can have a relationship with God. It was written to show us how we can have a relationship with God through Christ.
I think we may have taken this purpose living life to purpose livin strife. If you want to get serious here it's more about being willing to suffer for Christ than thinking we're such an important part of the plan.
2 Timothy 1:8-9a Therefor do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was give to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
Gems the word says His own purpose and grace. Our God, the ultimate Potter made our lump of clay called life before time began. You may be used for a special purpose or you may be just another cracked pot like me and that's OK :) so get rid of purpose strife and live your life!

Gift of Faith

Ya know people are often telling me what great faith I have but I gotta tell you it makes me giggle cause the truth is it depends on the day. Some days I have great faith and other days I'm asking myself if I have lost my mind? You may ask, then what gives me the courage to keep going? Good question, glad you asked.
The thing I do have great faith in is God's faithfulness. His reality and plan for my life doesn't change based on my emotions for the day. Thank you Jesus. God's not in Heaven one day saying Gena has strong faith today my plan for her life is moving forward and the next saying ooops she's feeling weak today stop the plan til further notice. His promises and mercies are new each day. Again not based on my ability to believe but His faithfulness.
With that said I want you to look at the other side of my story. On God's faith in His other children to be obedient which in turn grows my faith.
When I was out of work for 2 years and living in a foreclosed house and had NO source of income I had to rely on God's provision. Now we all know there are times the Lord uses miracles like when He healed the leper, brought the dead back to life or turned water into wine. I'm all for miracles and have experienced them personally.
I had a blood clot on my lung when I was 5 months pregnant with my last child. I was told by doctors to get my affairs in order. That's a nice way of saying your gonna kick the bucket. That's another jewel. however, the Lord did a miracle and healed me. My point is miracles occur all the time but you usually have to really NEED a miracle. Your situation has to be totally out of your control. I'm grateful for the miracles but I don't want to need like that everyday. I do want to know all my daily needs will be met.
During that 2 year period I needed food and money and I started what I called a Ravens List. It recorded all the ways God met my needs. I was going to include it in the jewel but it was way too long. As I was looking at all the post I realized that each of these individuals had to be obedient to do what God put on their heart. Some were small amounts in the worlds eyes like ten dollars. I think that was for those whose obedience walk just started. Others were larger like one hundred dollars, this was for people who understood it was from God and He would bless them for their obedience. One time there was a surprisingly large blessing.
I had a dream and in the dream I was given a beautiful package. It was wrapped in pretty paper and I was so excited about it. I was also given an envelope and inside of it was a large amount of money. That's all I remember about the dream.
A few days later I got a call from a friend to stop by her house. I had other plans but when she asked a second time the Holy Spirit moved in me to go see her so I did. When I got to the house we were talking about general stuff nothing life shattering and I wondered why the Holy Spirit sent me there. A moment later my friend told me she had something for me from her and her husband. She handed me a beautiful wrapped package and inside was a tea cup, I drink a lot of tea. On the inside of the cup were the words “an angles job is never done” with a picture of a cute flying angel. I was so surprised and excited cause it wasn't my birthday or anything and I love getting gifts. My friend then handed me an envelope and inside of that was FIVE THOUSAND dollars. I was blown away by the amount of money she and her husband were giving me! I don't know if I ever told her about that dream.
The thing is Gems it took just as much faith and obedience on my friends part to give me this gift as it took for me to believe God would provide.
We both had to be obedient to do what God told us to do.
Over the years I have been blessed by so many people who gave from their heart not from my request. I say that because that's how I gauge if I'm hearing things right from God. I believe if it's His will He will be the one who provides without me asking for it. My job is to seek His kingdom and His job is to provide.
Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
It's like Pastors. They are being obedient to the call of ministry and feeding Christ sheep but they are trusting that the sheep will be faithful to tithe so their needs can be met.
I want to take the time to thank everyone who has sown into Gena's Jewels and my life in general. Thank you for your obedience to the Lord. Thank you for what may seem the smallest gift like words of encouragement to the largest gifts weather money or material things. I have been so blessed by your obedience and your faithfulness to our sweet Jesus.
I am thankful for the miracles in my life and I'm honored to serve the One who performs them and my prayer is to be a blessing to someone else who is waiting on the Lord for something. For now it's usually my time because finances are low but that doesn't mean it is any less an offering of praise to my Heavenly Father.
Gems we have all been given the gift of faith we just have to choose to use it. The more you do the more it grows on the inside of you. Remember it doesn't change God's abilities or His relationship with us. It's not how much power He has it's how much of His power do I want to tap into. I'm hooked, the more I get the more I want.
My prayer for you Gems is that you will be obedient to whatever God calls you to do. Weather it's to give a smile, a hug, a word of encouragement or a financial blessing. We can all choose to give the gift of faith and in turn help someone else's faith grow.

Up A Tree Without A Plan

I was in Texas recently and my dear friend Suzan took me to see this tree. She said there was a jewel in there somewhere :)
I have been pondering that sight for a few days now and this is the lesson I believe the Lord showed me.
The bikes represent us, we are all on a journey in our personal lives, all going different directions with different circumstances, different dreams and different destinations. There are times however when you feel like your spinning your wheels and going no where. Every road seems to be a dead end and you feel like your bike is going higher and higher in that tree and the “right” road is getting further and further away.
It is in these times we feel God has ridden off into the sunset and forgotten us .
We can't see the forest for the trees because our circumstances have blinded our view. We feel like we tried to hold onto Jesus but we lost our grip and we are now riding alone.
The Lord gave me a visual regarding that thought and His answer to it.
I pictured myself flying with Jesus, holding onto the back of His cape if you will, holding on for dear life. Slowly my grip begins to loosen and one by one my fingers let go and I begin to fall to the cold hard ground below.
The Lord showed me that I can let go any time I want because it is Him who is holding onto me!
When I feel like my bike is hanging from a tree and I'm running into other tree ornaments we are all still very much being held up by His branches.
We ask ourselves why in the world would God allow us to be in this tree? How can this be good for me or my family? How long am I going to hang here with questions and no answers? We feel like things are out of control because we aren't supposed to be here. Or are we?
Perhaps the very times we are dangling from an unfamiliar place is the very times the Lord is increasing our faith and encouraging us to let go of the wheel and trust Him to bring us to the right destinations.
To ride by faith.
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
I love the mountains and the Lord has been so good to bless me the past few years to go visit them every year near my birthday. Once again this year I was offered a beautiful place in North Carolina that Jess and I could stay for free! It's all I could talk about to anyone who would listen. About 2 weeks before it was time to leave the Lord asked me to go to Texas to minister for Him. I suddenly felt myself beginning to ride by bike up that tree trunk.
I began explaining to the Lord if I go to Texas I won't have any funds to go to North Carolina. Did I mention I LOVE the mountains?? There was nothing pressing on my heart about Texas but the Holy Spirit did not let it go so I called my dear friend Suzan, bought the ticket and landed in Ft. Worth a few days later.
Before I even left I began to plan the course I would ride once I got there. Before I knew it I was hanging from a tree branch, everything I thought I was going to do was changed.
The Lord had his own bike route we would be taking. There were moments I was holding on not sure which road to go down but then I got that visual of me letting go knowing the Lord was holding onto me, I just had to keep peddling.
There were parts of the trip that were uncomfortable for me and I asked God why do I have to do this? I felt like I was up in someones tree house without an invite. It was at these times the Lord reminded me how much He loved these individuals and it was by His invite I was there. Gems I had no idea what I was doing in that tree BUT God did and looking back I see I was exactly where I was supposed to be ministering to exactly who He chose.
The whole experience increased my faith and encouraged me to just start peddling when the Lord calls and don't worry about the obstacles. The Lord promises to work out all things for the good of those who love Him and either He's God or He's not.
I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I don't see the good in my situation at all, the whole thing looks about as natural as riding a bike from a tree branch. During the trip things may be confusing but when the ride is over and I reach my destination I can look back and see the hand of God on the whole trip.
2Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The bottom line is a long time ago there was an innocent man who was asked to hang on a tree. To be beaten and bruised for my iniquities. To have the face of God turn away from Him because of my sins. A man asked to hang from a tree and believe God would work it all out. He too asked if there was another way to go. That man was my sweet Jesus and I thank Him daily for giving me the tree of life.
Gems I write you this jewel from a beautiful room with a breath taking view of the North Carolina mountains. I have so much joy in my heart I'm about to burst! I so wish each one of you could be here to share in this blessing. One of the locals told me it snowed last week and was freezing and next week the tourist will be here and it will be hard to get around town. She said we definetly chose the perfect weekend to be here. Honestly I thougth once I was on that plane to Texas I would have to give up my mountain trip but God worked it all out for His and my perfect timing.
My prayer for each of you is the next time you find yourself up a tree without a plan you will remember that Jesus is holding onto you. Let go, ride without hands and trust you can only fall as far as the palm of His hands.