YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN. WILL YOU ACCEPT?

John 15:16  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last--and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 

Yesterday I had a conversation with a very good friend who asked me where I get my ideas for this blog.  Does something just pop in my head or does God guide me?  What?  Well to be totally honest here, God is the one who guides these blogs.  He may bring up a certain thing that happened in the past or even yesterday.  He may bring a certain Bible verse to my attention, or sometimes He just guides me to a picture.  It's never intentional or planned on my part.  I never know where God will lead me/. There are times I do not like to talk about, but He wants me to,so I do.  There are times I'd love to talk about and He says no.  I do my best to follow His leading because for some absurd reason He has chosen me to do this.  I do not do this for attention for myself or to get a pat on the back.  If I did it for that reason, He would not bless it.  I do it for God!  He asked me to, He guided me to and He chose me to.  This is all for His glory, not mine.  I can't tell you why I was chosen, I do not understand myself, but here I am sharing my heart and soul so that maybe God can change one person's eternity through these words.  You see I did not go to college for writing, in fact I didn't go to college at all.  The sentences I type may not be grammatically correct, but I honestly don't care. 

 

I am who I am.  A person chosen by God to be different and not just like everyone else.  God created me this way and for that I am glad.  I used to complain about who I was because I was teased so much as a child and a teenager.  I used to try to change me and I tried to become someone everyone else approved of.  I hid my true self behind masks because I was afraid that if people knew the real me, they wouldn't be my friend.  I laughed at jokes, I never thought were funny, I joined in on things that really bothered me.  I just tried to fit in with everyone else.  It just never worked out and I never felt comfortable.  I was different and fought it all the way until I met Jesus Christ.  He accepts me just as I am and loves my quirkiness.  I was once told my laugh was to loud and that I should tone it down.  Jesus told me, "I gave you that laugh.  don't you dare tone it down!"  Right then and there I knew that in the eyes of my Savior, I was perfect and that was good enough for me.

I always wondered why I was so different than other people.  As I was talking with my friend yesterday I had one of those Oprah, "Ah ha" moments.  A light bulb went off in my head for the first time in my (soon to be) 53 years.  I honestly heard that still, small voice say, "I made you different for this"  You see what I now realize is that God changed me for many reasons but most of them had to do with this blog.  How could I write about God's love and the saving grace of Jesus Christ if I was watching the TV shows I was watching or reading the books I was reading or listening to the music I was listening to?  Simple I couldn't.  God had a purpose for me.  He chose me for this task and in order to do what He needed me to do, I needed to lay some of my favorite vices down.  Oh trust me I still have a lot of vices He is working with me on, but I realize how different I am and I am okay with that.  It used to bother me that it was hard for me to relate with other women because I did not like to sit and gossip or complain.  As I would gather with some women who were my friends and family, I would sit and listen to the gossiping, the complaining about their husbands, the whining about how bad their kids were and my heart would sink.  I felt like asking them, Why did you marry him?  Why did you have kids?  Why are those people your friends is that's the way you feel about them? But I never have.  

To be honest I have lost friendships because of the way I live my life and for the first time, I am okay with that because I was chosen.  When I first began to write this blog I was all wrapped up in numbers.  The number of people who read it, who read it and who didn't, the number of people who liked it on Facebook and the people who ignored it who said they were my friends drove me.  That's why I started a whole new blog page and began all over.  To be honest it still bothers me when I realize who is not supporting me in this mission, but I have given that over to God.  If only one person reads this and has their eternity changed because of the words God has given me, than my mission has been accomplished.  I realize that since I was chosen to do this, I have a responsibility to fill my mind with godly things.  My friend yesterday made me realize who I am now and how much I have changed and grown.  I also realized maybe for the first time, that I am okay being different.  God chose me to be different.  He called me to lead a life that is different from most, and that's okay.  You have been chosen to.  You have a purpose, a mission that God has chosen for you.  You have to choose to accept it or not.  Do you chose to accept it?

May God continue to guide me through this purpose and mission He has called me.  May my mind and my heart be receptive to hear His still, small voice and obey.  May my chosen path be blessed by God who put me here in the first place, in Jesus name I pray, amen.