Week 5 Limitless Life Online Bible Study: A Sacred Calling
I have several callings on my life: My most important are to be a woman of faith, life partner, and Mommy.
In 2014 the inner work God is doing in my life revealed what my REAL motivations were for these callings on my life.
I have seen it revealed that my desire for marriage and children was: selfish ambition, accomplishment, and to prove people wrong.
My motivation for my vocational calling was financial gain, prestige, and such.
This chapter stepped on my toes in more ways than one but reinforced what God has been showing me over and over again this year:
My motivation should simply be for the glory of God.
This Sacred Journey: A Sacred Calling to Marriage
Lately God has been speaking to my heart on the subject of marriage. For a single woman who believes she has been called to marriage and is ready to get the show on the road, this is probably not a shocker.
What God has shown me during these past few weeks (and I see it even more now as we go through this study) is that one of my main roles will be to lead my husband to Christ.
I am supposed to lead my husband into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I have had these a-ha moments that all the things I was basing my eligibility for being CHOSEN by a man did NOT matter. It did not matter about my looks, my weight, my job, my finances, or any of that.
What will attract him to me is the light that is within me which is Christ. He will be attracted by the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life.
When Pastor Derwin shared the story of how the woman at his wife's job EARNED the right to share Christ because of her example, I felt it click. I will have to live by example so that I can influence people toward a relationship with Jesus. This means really practicing what I preach and preaching what I practice.
In the past I've had the "hots"( literally) for a guy and decided that he needed to be in my life. I ambushed him and along the way kinda half way prayed for him to come to Jesus. My main motivation was he appealed to my carnal desires because he fit EVERY SINGLE PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS CRITERIA and I was tired of being single. I really think I prayed for him to come to Jesus so that it wouldn't seem that I was totally about the hormones. Put a little spirituality on it.
I figured everyone wins in this situation: I could get a hot guy AND he can know something about God. Never mind my main ambition was to have my own carnal desires satisfied and if I committed a sin or two...oh well.
Praise God that didn't get anywhere. As a matter of fact, I am ASHAMED of that line of thinking right now. Here was a real opportunity to touch someone and introduce them to Christ but I blew it because of my hormones and selfish ambition.
Well no more missed opportunities on that front. God says that I am supposed to influence and lead my husband to Christ and that's just what I am going to do. I have a great example in my sister because I have watched as she influenced someone in her life to accept Christ. She did not preach or shout at him, but rather whatever she was doing in her life motivated this person to come to Christ and it's awesome to see. She has inspired me to do the same.
A Sacred Vocation
I teach fitness classes and train clients. I have noticed that since reading through this chapter I am much more mindful with my clients. I make it a point to pour words of encouragement into them about their lives and speak life to them. I figure you get enough negative naysayers at work and for many people at home.
This year God has really challenged me to start using this big mouth of mine to really speak out and not hold back. I know that my gifts include speaking and teaching and I have a vision to reach a lot of people, but I'm ready to get going now. I am using my platform in the gym and online to speak out and encourage others.
Sometimes I think people aren't paying any attention but I will run into people and they will tell me how something I wrote or said made an IMPACT on them.
Pastor Derwin NAILED it when he said that when you work for a paycheck you limit yourself. Truer words have never been spoken. I learned that lesson in my role at Fitness Manager and the worst part about it is that in most cases your paycheck isn't enough to warrant giving your life for it.
Even if it is enough, it isn't worth in it in the long run. I see people who have the prestige, the money, and all of it and are fed up with their lives. They are ready to quit but can't due to family pressures or worrying about what others would think if they had to give up their lifestyles.
After I quit my job as Fitness Manager, I told myself that I never wanted money to be my main motivator. Jesus promised that he would take care of my needs. I don't have to worry about money. As a matter of fact, I would be INSULTED when they would offer me $200 if I got a new client and I wouldn't do it. Clients aren't dollar signs to me. They are people who I have relationships with and want to help and not fulfill quotas.
For the record, I get new clients all the time now and I make way more than $200.
I've repented about my behavior in the past of selfish ambition and allowing my hormones to take over. My prayer is that my motivation will be to see God's Glory.
As Jesus told Martha after he resurrected Lazarus from the dead:
Didn't I tell you that you would see God's Glory if you believed? (John 11:40)
To God be the Glory
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