Imperfect Purpose Series- Embracing our Imperfections
Faithful and absolutely trustworthy is He who is calling you [to Himself for your salvation], and He will do it [He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, and protecting you as His own].
1 Thessalonians 5:24 AMP
He who calls you is so very faithful, friends. He assures us of this so many times throughout scripture, and it stands out here in this verse as Paul adds even more reassurance of our God, and the peace he ultimately brings. He calls us. For us to even begin to comprehend this idea of Him calling me, calling us to Himself, we need to start at the foundation. We dig into the thought that He can only be the foundation, and therefore any thing or situation or person builds off of Him.
I think when we can fully picture Him as the foundation of our lives, the situations, and seasons that we live through, whether we feel like we are flourishing or trying to stay above water, it is then that we grow in true connection and trust with our Father.
Imperfect purpose was born from a time of complete dependence on the Lord in my life. Yet so much stems back from early childhood, if I really dig deep but its realization came so much later in life. At a time when I needed to have full confidence, in a place of wilderness, that eventually led me to His pastures. During a time of barrenness, to a time of joy, and back into a time of despair, to His light of hope-- He was at work. He is always at work friends, yet sometimes it is not always easy to see this or experience it right there in that moment--but I find that He prepares us several different ways.
It is in the imperfect moments in our lives where He is drawing us in closer, and then there are moments when He has us drift out a little further in the open, to a place we might feel less commutable, yet He is still there. We actually need these different scenarios to have a different perspective, so we are prepared with the full armor of Christ. It is imperative for us to embrace times when we are in the trenches as well as the times when we might feel like we have a handle on life-- I promise we need Him at all times.
He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, and protecting you as His own-- He will. I struggled to believe this at certain times in my life and even more so over the last 5 years, but He is faithful.
When we can embrace our imperfections, we can see our God clearly, our imperfections that He created in His image, all for the purpose of His grace, His Kingdom.
I believe that there are fundamental aspects that will help us to draw closer to Him to uncover the imperfections so that we no longer see them as a fault or failure but instead as freedom in Him. We will dig into one of them today, and will explore more as we continue this series.
Prayer: It is the first and foremost piece of our calling-- and I say this because this is our foundation, our relationship with Him. We grow in Him deeper when we have a constant rhythm of prayer and conversation. Prayer will become so entangled in you that you will run to Him at all hours of the day, lay it all out on Him, and praise Him at the same time. We must transform ourselves into prayer warriors, putting on the armor daily.
- Talk to Him today- out loud, on paper, and quietly. Try all three. No set format, just talk to Him. This will drastically change you, the Holy Spirit dwells inside, and you will feel the connection. I am not going to say you will see the exact purpose in the imperfections instantly, but it builds a top the foundation of Christ, the place we must always plant our feet firmly on. As your relationship is deeper rooted, the thoughts and emotions He wants us to feel and experience will come to greater life.
For me, I had to stop trying to think I would ever get all of the answers. What I had to do though is slowly, while feeling and processing, lean further into His arms and allow His grace to consume me. The imperfections might describe us, where we are in life, where we are headed- but friend, let me emphasize that He is the only thing that defines us and our purpose.
I thought it would be fun to kick things off with a series, that has so many layers and imperfections-- I want to dig deep in Christ, with you. I will be sharing some dear friends of mine with you, ladies who are on the journey with you and me, learning to embrace their imperfect purpose for His abundant life He calls us to live. We will dive into those fundamental pieces along the way.