February 10, 2013

God's Loving Dream for Me by Sharon Espeseth


God has always known me. As my creator, he says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1: 4-5 NIV)

I'm getting used to recognizing myself as a writer, but I hesitated to call myself a prophet. Recently, however, I read a column by John Connelly in Western Catholic Reporter reminding us that God has "appointed us to be a prophetic people. A people who shine the light on truth in the darkness of our times." Hmm, I thought, that does shed a different light on the matter.

There is a lot of darkness out there and Jesus pointed out the futility of lighting a lamp and putting it under a bowl. Instead we are to put our lamp on a stand, so "it gives light to everyone in the house."

God loved me from the beginning. Sometimes I need the visual of God literally knitting me together in my mother's womb. While knitting, God implanted dreams and gifts that he intended me to explore and use to his honour and glory. One of those dreams was writing.


At particular points in my life I've had glimpses of God's dream for me, but I've then let everyday distractions crowd these dreams out like weeds can crowd out flowers in my flowerbeds. Eventually, untended, the flowers in my garden become indistinguishable from the weeds. That's when it's time to do some serious weeding to get rid of those detractors, so I can once again see the dreams God has knitted into my being.

To do this I need to spend quality time with my maker. I need to be still and know that he is God. Being present, listening, sharing, respecting, honouring, adoring, praising, submitting: these are the protocol of love. In these days of independence, rights, freedom, and equality, submission is not a popular concept.

In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers reminds us that even Christ "never spoke of his right to himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to his Father." Christ provided an example of how we must attune ourselves to God's Spirit. Knowing God has created our inmost beings, would it not be wiser and more effective to give our loving heavenly father "elbow room" to work in our lives.

Pray with me: Dear Lord, like David the psalmist, may we humbly and frequently ask you to examine our ways. May we give you room to work in and through us so our lives and our writing may say what you want us to say.




7 comments:

  1. Sharon,
    I love your post. There are so many truths in here. I love Oswald Chambers too.
    One statement that struck me was, "Knowing God has created our inmost beings, would it not be wiser and more effective to give our loving heavenly father "elbow room" to work in our lives."
    mmm - Give God room.
    Blessings,
    Janis

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  2. It's good to hear from another Oswald Chambers reader. I read and underline, then reread what he says in My Utmost for His Highest, because he offers much food for thought and blessing. Thanks for your comment, Jan.

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  3. Thanks for the prayer at the end and blessings to you!

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  4. Sharon, Had a chuckle at the image of giving our heavenly father 'elbow room' to work in our lives.

    It's true, sometimes we crowd him out when we think we know best. So for me too, it always about coming back to the dreams HE has knitted within us and allowing them room to flourish.



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  5. Thanks for your comments, Writing Friends. I am glad you got something out of my blog. I need to give Oswald Chamber the credit for the "elbow room" idea and my daughter Jenny for knitting a piece and getting the photo to me.

    I highly recommend My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers as an excellent devotional book. I have much to learn from his writing about submitting to God in all things.

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  6. PS... Sharon... Yes, I do enjoy Oswald Chambers. I have a couple of versions of Mr. Chambers' works on my shelves.

    He has heard the word from Home and, I think, that's why it resonates with so many....

    He knows how to catch the essence of essential things with his word pictures, which in turn causes his readers to think about coming up a little higher... and drawing a littler nearer.





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  7. This is lovely, Sharon :)

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