The past couple weeks I have been doing a lot of reading since my shoulder surgery. I’m a little bit out of commission and I have found some different reading materials that I had not previously used.
On a side note with all my Black Friday perusing, I discovered that kindle unlimited was offering three months free! This is fabulous because I probably wouldn’t read enough to make the cost worth it but since I’m laid up, I’m absolutely reading a lot of books, so this is great!
One of the people that I had found, and I think it was first on YouTube. It’s one of the videos just came up I think I don’t remember exactly how I first heard about this person. His name is Victor Marx. He’s written books and he’s been on different podcasts and with different pastors and traveled all over the world.
His story is one that hooked me. I won’t go through his whole story here, but it got me realizing that every single one of us is a different story. God is working His will and His miracles in a million different ways all over the world. My story is much different than someone else’s and in the case of this man who I’ve been reading about, a life of abuse and neglect and substance use and different careers that he was brought to even though he had physical ailments is absolutely amazing.
It made me realize that God can do absolutely amazing things with little to no material. We’re His material. We’re His puzzle with all the pieces flying everywhere. We’re His sculpture that has no shape or form when we’re born. I mean we look human but technically God’s formation of us hasn’t even started
Every one of us is a different manuscript for him- a different masterpiece. I’ve just been realizing how reading about other people’s struggles can help us find a way to connect with the king of the universe on a much different level.
Hearing stories about other people’s journeys and ways that they surrendered only to gain traction or gain divine authority over some illness or some character quality or an addictive personality or whatever it may be.
I have been inspired and challenged over the past couple weeks as I’ve been sitting here with my arm immobilized. I’m sure that’s why the Bible was written with so many stories in it. So that we can listen to others feel connection feel like there’s we’re not the greatest losers on the face of the earth because there’s this guy here that’s had the same problems and look how God used him.
I know there was a chunk of my life where I wondered what on earth God would ever need me for. I look around me and I see others that are so much more accomplished or so much better at whatever it is, and I think “well God, you’ve got that covered”. In God’s grand design, it appears He wants the coverage a little thicker. He desires more and more of us to step out in faith and be willing to be sculpted into what His plan has been for us all along.
If you think about this in relation to a puzzle – if it’s a puzzle that has 200 or 500 or 1000 pieces – it doesn’t matter how many pieces it has if one is missing. It’s always going to be incomplete. You’ll never get the full picture. And this might seem like maybe it’s not that important but if you know anything about people who are adamant about their puzzles, if one piece is missing they are not happy! They feel robbed – like they worked really hard and didn’t get the reward that they were looking for.
Do you ever feel like God might feel robbed by us? He designed each and every one of us who was on the earth for a purpose to complete a task, to walk in their strengths and let him grow them into the beautiful masterpieces He designed them to be.
And then there’s a bunch of us walking around denying his existence or giving him control and then taking the reins out of his hands when our lives aren’t going in the direction we want them to. Or there’s chunk of us that know that God is real but just say that’s not for me.
What does God have to say about all that you ask?
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way
WHEN!!
I have read that last verse many times but never focused on the word “when”. This is coming full circle from where I started this little devotion. I was talking about the man that I had been listening to podcasts and reading books and such. Many of the stories that he shares are about his life when he wasn’t following Christ versus his life when he was following Christ and wow what a difference!
When you follow Christ wholeheartedly your puzzle piece fits exactly where it’s supposed to be along with everyone else’s puzzle pieces. We make a beautiful picture and we are in the right place at the right time to complete God’s intentions each day. This morning on my channel I uploaded a short where I read a devotional from my Bible called what really matters. I love how God has plans to nurture and bless us and that He uses us to nurture and bless others. When we aren’t walking as closely with Him as we could, we may miss the blessing that He designed for us to give someone else!