Serving God Where He Places You ~ by Christy

Learn all you can, about all you can, while you can.  This is a saying some friends of ours tell their children to encourage them to seek after learning new things every day.  And being a teacher at heart, I have started saying it to my own children.  My Grandma Leitha used to live this out, even though I never heard her say it out loud.  I have good memories of her teaching me things while I was visiting her.  I learned to sew and bake at her house.  And she always had books on her shelves for me to read.

"Ask, and it shall be given you;  seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7:7

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;  and it shall be given him."  James 1:5

I did not grow up in a Christian home.  I didn’t surrender my life to Jesus Christ until I was a young adult.  As a new Christian, I had many hurts and expectations that needed to be sifted through the word of God.  I am so grateful for God’s faithfulness to me and his patience with me as I have been learning to be more Christ like in all areas of my life. 

In the years before I became a Christian and too many of the years after I knew Christ, I failed to yield my expectations in life to God.  I was angry for the way things had transpired in my life, especially during my growing up years.  Each one of us has events or circumstances in our lives that are unchangeable.  It is easy to become angry or unsettled inside when we can’t have things our way.  But God is be working in ways that we don’t understand.  I have seen many blessings come out of my trials.

As I  learned to surrender my expectations to God and get my attention off myself, God started to show me that there were people in my small sphere of influence that I could serve.  I had been spending so much time being in emotional turmoil about my life’s unchangeable events, that I hadn’t even noticed that God had plans for me and things for me to do.  I could start by having a heart of serving toward my family, yielding my expectations to the Lord.   This I did one moment at a time.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;  and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes;  fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones."  Pr. 3:5-8

I began to realize that many of my expectations had been with wrong motives-selfishness.  Through his word, God was teaching me that I could trust him with my expectations and that His ways are higher than mine.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

The faithfulness of God’s Word encouraged me to serve in new ways-and God was giving me peace.  A friend and mentor  of mine always told me that peace and righteousness kiss each other. The Lord was working sanctification in my life.   I was learning to serve not to be seen by others but to bring honor to the name of Christ.

God has placed each one of us in a unique place to serve others.  And this will bring glory to God!  As we engraft his word into our life and surrender our expectations to him, we more effectively represent the character of Christ to others.  It frees us to serve others with right motives so we can be truly cheerful as we serve.

Learn all you can, about all you can, while you can.  I hope you are encouraged through my experience to engraft his Word into your life, yield your expectations to God and serve him with your whole heart.

"Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee:  O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes:  I will not forget thy word." Psalm 119:9-16