Every one of us are on a journey to discover God and live out the destiny he has created for us. We’re all at different stages and we all have taken different paths. For many of us, our paths have been difficult, maybe even disastrous. Just to be alive and functioning may be a great miracle in and of itself and the idea that God has been with you all along may be difficult to believe. There was a time in my journey that I believed people were basically where they had chosen to be and as a result I was pretty critical towards those who struggled to do the right thing. Then I was given several opportunities to see life from another perspective.
Seeing People from A Different Perspective Helps Us Love Them
One opportunity came when clearly by no doing of my own God began sending people into my life who were struggling with life and their past. I got to know them, I ate with them and hung out with them and got to know their stories and their journey. I discovered that these were good people who had bad events or experiences derail them from the kind of life God wanted for them. Don’t get me wrong some of them had chosen to live in the most horrible way and they felt entitled to hurt others and there didn’t seem to be any way they would change. But, then I watched God change some of them and I discovered I can never judge, because his wonderful and miraculous power to change the human heart is never far away.
The Life Event that Changed My Heart of Judgment
But the other event is where I want to spend the rest of my time because it’s what helped me to understand a great deal about God’s love for us and his desire to walk us through our journey to discover our purpose. I’ve shared the story in a previous post about the day God spoke audibly to me. An event like this is not a one time event. Years later I am still re-living that event and God continues to teach me about what he told me that day. To understand you may need to know more about me.
Life for me wasn’t always about how I did I always felt like I wasn’t good enough for anything I did. Even when I succeeded and people were patting me on the back inside I was telling myself I didn’t deserve it and I could always find something wrong with my efforts and I did. I was the great judge. First, I judged myself harshly and secondly I judged others. I was really good at critiquing and criticizing. The goal was always to be better. But, I was never good enough to get there.
So, on this particular day I was living in a season where I felt my life was not in the right place and I was hard on myself because I knew I could do better. I was also hard on God because he allowed it and right in the middle of my tirade to myself he speaks to me and what he says stops me dead in my tracks because he wasn’t interested in what I did, he was interested in being with me. It was a paradigm shift for me. In my life experience people only cared about what I did. I don’t think anyone had ever cared about who I was. But, God took a second to express his care for who I was and I really didn’t know that it really mattered until that moment. Once he made this change in me, I could then apply with others.
The Journey is to Bring You Home
There are a lot of people in this world who think God is looking to judge us. To find what is wrong with us and to let us know that we are not what he wants us to be. They are ever at work with a critical eye. They are wrong, that is really their problem. He already knows this about us. Our journey is to discover his great love for us and how each of us fits perfectly into his great family. Once we understand this, changing into his image is his work alone and its done with the greatest care. It will take your lifetime to live out what he has created you to be so the sooner you get started the better chance you have to fulfill it.
His voice was thunder and it literally shook me but, I also knew he loved me and I understood his care while also recognizing he could see every piece of my inner being. Nothing was hid from him that day or any day. He knows us through and through and yet he still reaches out to us to help us understand that no matter where you have been or what choices you have made he wants to bring you home and that is the great journey. We are all headed for home. There will be those who choose not to go home, but its not because he doesn’t want you there. Complete your journey and discover how loved you are in the house of God. I look forward to seeing you there!