Foundational Truth 2: Called and Gifted for a Specific Purpose

Did you know that God already has a plan for your life?  He called and gifted you before you were born for a SPECIFIC purpose.  It is not just up to us to find out what we are good at or what we can make the most money at or what we like to do.  He has a Plan, and that Plan is better than any of the plans we try to make without Him.  I found well over 50 passages in the Bible on this topic.  Psalm 139 is amazing.  Below is an excerpt.

Ps. 139:13-18
For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you. 

Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul all specifically say they were called while in the womb.  (Isa. 49:1-7, Jer. 1:5-10, Gal. 1:15).  There are many other examples in scripture as well (Samson, John the Baptist, etc.)  On of my very favorite passages is about "regular" people (not people who were called to be heroes for God or write books of the Bible).    This story is about Bezalel and Oholiab and "skillful women," just regular people, called for a job as artisans and craftsmen and teachers.  You can find the story in Exodus 31:1-6, Exodus 35:25-35, and Exodus 36:1-7.  These passages, among others (including the "God shows no partiality" in ESV or "no respect of persons" in KJV passages including Acts 10:34, Rom. 2:11, and Gal. 2:6) shows me that God calls all of us, not just the "super-saints" for a specific purpose.

In the New Testament, Paul uses an interesting word picture.  He calls the Church the Body of Christ and then talks about what that means.  I Corinthians 12 is one of the funniest and most profound passages of the Bible.  What would happen if the whole body was an eye or an ear?  Or a crazy giant nose?  (The nose is the one I use with my kids as it gets the most laughs even though that isn't actually in the passage.)  The body wouldn't function very well without all of its parts.  Sure we can live without an appendix or without tonsils or without a finger or even an arm, and sometimes some parts even have to be removed to keep us healthy or alive, but no one would say that is ideal.  Our bodies have different parts: different internal organs, different sense organs, different limbs, and the individual parts should all work together doing their individual jobs well to keep the whole body functioning at peak performance.  If even your little toe gets banged, your whole body's performance plummets for at least a moment.  Romans 12 also talks about this concept.  If you really take some time to really think about this concept it can revolutionize your view of the Church, education, and your own life.

Here are some more references for you to look up.  No time to link them because the house is suddenly alive with children and it is time for me to go make some Saturday morning pancakes.

Amos 7:14-15 (God changed Amos' career mid-life)
Ps. 71:6
Isa. 45:3-13
Hag. 2:23
Rom. 11:29
Eph. 3:1-13
Eph. 4:1
1 Thess. 1:4
2 Tim. 1:5-12
1 Pet. 4:10-11

Now for some pancakes...

Owls and Respite

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:30 to a whooo-oooo sound.  At first I thought Super T was making the sound (he is a notorious early-riser, although it has been getting much better especially now that the days are getting shorter).  A minute later I realized that I was being serenaded by an owl.  There is nothing quite like that whoooo-oooo in the early morning to help me spring out of bed with a smile.  Well, spring might be a rather strong word, but I did immediately get up and go open the front door in hopes of hearing the owl better.  Apparently he was in my parents' back yard because the sound was fainter from the front (my folks live next door to me...a perfect arrangement when you are a single mom and have wonderful parents).  I thought then about blogging (it is usually early morning or not at all around here), but got distracted by a book I was reading.  Peace and quiet is so alluring to me.  :)

Yesterday afternoon two sweet little girls were dropped of for respite.  They have been here before for a longer period and this is just for the weekend, so we are all happy about it, especially Little Pud who desperately wants a little sister and will likely cry when they leave, but even LOTL who balks at having little ones for long periods of time is good with having them for the weekend, and Super T loves anyone who is littler than him since he almost always is around people who are bigger than him and boss him around.  He tries to boss the little girls around, much to their annoyance but his delight.  I am thrilled to help out some hard-working foster parents and care for some precious girls who have been in a bad situation.  It promises to be a busy weekend, so I am up early this morning to try to pound out on the keyboard what is floating around in my brain.  I guess we'll all find out if it gets done before the small fry get up...

Happy Weekend and Two Links

I plan on continuing my education posts next week. I have a lot to write, but unfortunately very little time in which to write. For today I am just going to give you two links to explore and some book recommendations.

My friend Shannon (yes, the same one who wrote the fruit post I linked to below) wrote an interesting piece about reaching our children's hearts (comparing them to a bridge). Go read it here.

Also, there is some good stuff going on over at Mission iPossible. Note Super T on the sidebar buttons there. I'll write more about that soon, I hope.

In your free time this weekend I would recommend looking at the books on my Shelfari widget to the right. These are all excellent books that I have read in the past few years. Most are primarily about parenting. My current favorite is Raising Kids for True Greatness by Tim Kimmel. It really challenged my view of success for my children.

Have a wonderful long weekend!