Hey everyone! Man
has it been a while since I sat down to write.
Funny how life does that…. You blink and a month goes by.
Recently I had the privilege of being a part of the worship
team for the Women’s retreat that my church held, at a State Park in
Alabama. We drove down on Friday and
honestly, I had no idea what to expect.
I know that sounds a little silly to say out loud, but I have never been
on a women’s retreat before and while I was thrilled to go, and I knew that the
speakers (all friends of mine) would be awesome, I was honestly a little
intimidated. Man, oh man did the
Lord show up! It was a weekend filled
with incredible fellowship and wonderful times of worship. But
the part that stuck out to me the most…. the part I am still chewing on, was the
story God told through the speakers. I
thought I would share a few of the highlights of what was shared, and a few of
my thoughts, as I process everything the Lord did on this weekend.
They each shared in
the theme of Poetry with a focus on Ephesians 2:10” For We are God’s
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do.”
That word Workmanship, (also translated Masterpiece or
Handiwork) comes from the word Poiema, which means a Masters Piece of
Work. We are literally Gods Master
Pieces. Each one of us. He is the author and we are His poems. Not an accident or unintentional
story. A beautiful piece of art that is
being penned by the creator of the universe.
One of my favorite quotes from this past weekend was this “The Presence
of the Poem, proves the existence of the poet”. It is indeed the poet that gives a poem
value, not the poem itself.
A few of the ways that the enemy tries to attack our story
is by minimizing it, threatening it, isolating it, and tempting us to compare
it to others. But we are God’s unique
creation, each of us. Called to tell
our own story, make our God known, and lift others up who may also struggle
through the sharing of what God has done.
When we find ourselves struggling to believe in our value,
it is most likely due to things we are hanging onto in our lives that are not
of Him. Things like Jealously,
Offenses, Unforgiveness, Comparison, and Bitterness. But Ephesians 1:3 tells us that we have
been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
Christ. Which means that we don’t have
to fight for power, strive for strength, or find courage within ourselves to
walk in the fullness of who we are created to be. God has already given us the power, so if
we are lacking, it is not Him... it’s us.
We are choosing not to walk in the fullness of the power of the Holy
Spirit. We are choosing to try and write
our own story. And the only territory the enemy has is what
we give him. Which means we need to take
that territory back. Refuse to fall
into His lies. Trust and Believe that
we are more than conquerors in Christ and walk in that victory, letting God
remain the author of our lives.
So, what are some of the areas where we have allowed the
enemy access or power in our lives that maybe we don’t even realize, because
after so long it has just become our “normal”.
Maybe we think of it as “who we are” when God is telling you “This is
not a part of the poem I am writing”.
He has good works planned for us, just like Ephesians tells
us. So maybe it’s time to take a look
at those places where the enemy has convinced us that this is the story we are
stuck with, and start allowing the Lord to write His story over us. It may not look the way we planned, or
dreamed it to look, but the story, the poem of the King is the beautiful story
of repentance, healing, authority, boldness, forgiveness, love, joy, peace,
hope…. this is the story I want for my life.
One of the things I was left with this weekend was the idea
that sometimes to get back to His story and out of the one we are trying to
write for ourselves, is to pray over what good work the Lord may be calling you
to as an act of obedience. It doesn’t
need to be a huge grandiose work. It
doesn’t even need to be public…. just something the Lord is saying “This is
what I need you to do for right now”.
Maybe in preparation for something more, maybe just as way to clear out
some for the junk. Maybe it’s something
as small as committing to wash the dishes every day because your spouse hates doing
it and it would bless your marriage to take that job on, or committing to that
quiet time you always say you will take but seldom do. For me it was something rather simple, but
actually rather difficult for me. And
to many of you this will sound silly but I know that the Lord has called me to
this as my good work. What His full
purpose is for this in my story I may never know. I lead worship often at my church for
different events. This means that
almost daily I am working on new songs, spending time in worship on my own, and
going over the songs I plan to do at the next event. I have a keyboard, and now we also have a
piano in the living room. But since
the piano has arrived, I rarely play it when anyone else is home because I am
terribly self-conscious worshipping in front of my family. It’s 100% the enemy and I know that. They don’t care, and even if they did it
shouldn’t matter to me at all. But this has been a struggle for me for many
years, so I generally hide away in my room to worship/prepare/write. It has become clear to me that this is my
way of hiding a vulnerable place in me, from those who I trust the most. The Lord called me out this weekend, that my
Good Work, is to start playing on the piano no matter who is home. That I am to walk in boldness as a
worshipper in this way. It truly
challenges me, to worship without distraction or concern for what others are
thinking and it will be an act of obedience.
I imagine after a while I won’t think about it anymore….and maybe it
will be just the thing my family needs.
But it is a challenge none the less.
I was sure to tell my husband as I wanted to voice my commitment so that
I could not back out of it.
I want to encourage
you to pray over what good work the Lord may have for you. The enemy wants to silence our voices. To make us ineffective for the kingdom. Whether by fear, or by keeping us occupied,
or distracted. Maybe by telling us we
have nothing to say of any value. But
the Lord has something to say through each of us. We are His poems and we are His beautiful
handiwork. It’s time to take back our
story and hand it over to the author and finisher of our faith.
