Full, yet?

I finished cleaning my life plate and I pushed myself away from the table.


I am already hungry again. I eagerly and anxiously feel the need to fill my life plate once more. More activity. More service. More. More. More.


My loving God says:


Stop.


Wait.


Rest.


I want you to experience My fullness. "I have come that you may have life... and have it to the FULL." (John 10:10)


Unfortunately, my culture and even the church have taught me that a full plate is expected. A full plate satisfies. A full life plate brings joy. A full life plate denotes status and importance.


My loving, patient God says:


Stop. 


Wait.


Rest.


Do you feel it? Do you feel the satisfaction, the joy, the peace, the fullness of My presence?


"You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11)

Lord, free me from the NEED to fill my plate out of any reason other than obedience to you. May I be satisfied in the FULL life that you give.

And when that plate is full of You, of Your life, of Your love, mercy, and grace... then I realize it is meant to be...


shared. 






Living for ONE,


Kelli


I am linking for the first time to 

Cleaning your "Life" Plate

A few weeks ago, an opportunity landed in my lap. A super, God-filled opportunity. I was excited, thrilled, and yet, wondering how I would fit this wonderful ministry possibility into an already filled plate.

I prayed. 

I am beginning to notice in my adult years, that either my sanguine personality lends itself to being unfocused, or I have a slight case of ADD. Or both. I am an enthusiastic person and when I see God at work, I want to jump in... even if I am already fully immersed in His work in other areas. Yes, I can be easily distracted. Yes, I can lose focus. But I like to say I am passionately unfocused.

So, what do I do with this new opportunity? My heart screams, "Yes!" My head fumbles for the word, "No." And my weary body has learned to just wait for the heart and the head to make their decision.

But God has been doing a work IN me... not just around me in the last few months. These last five months of my parents' going through cancer treatments, homeschooling my daughter, and my ministry blooming have taught me to make careful considerations of how to spend my time. Not all ministry opportunities are meant for me. Did I just say that? 

I made a list.

I made a list of all of my "non-negotiable" roles in my life. Christ-follower. Wife. Mom. Daughter. Sister. Minister. And so on. I am fortunate and blessed to have several of these. These roles are God-given and cannot be left unattended.

I then made another list. What are the activities that I have going on in my life right now? These may stem from a non-negotiable role or not. But the activities themselves... they are NEGOTIABLE. 

Then the final list. What are some new ways I see God is at work that interest me? This is where my super, God-filled opportunity was written down. Along with some other possibilities for involvement. 

I gasped.

I had no idea I was involved in so many current activities. I had to list everything... chauffeur to my sweet children, any team, committee, board, anything! Just writing and reading the list left my overwhelmed.

I prayed again.

Lord, help me to see the things you really want for me RIGHT NOW. Help me to ask the hard question of "Why am I doing this?" And enable me to answer honestly, even if it is, "Because I want to look like a good parent, wife, minister, etc." 

Lord, free me from filling my plate out of any reason other than obedience to you.

I was able to discern the activities that I needed to discontinue. I was able to see the possibilities of allowing others to help instead of doing things on my own. I confronted my pride and kicked it to the curb.

I gained focus.

Through relieving myself of some unnecessary activities, I could now turn to my list of potentials. The one that fell in my lap. 

I just knew that God had enabled me to clear my plate some to make room for this great opportunity. 

Not so. 

A God-filled possibility that I did not seek after falls in my lap and yet it is not meant for me to take? That's right. God meant for me to consider it, so that I would do some necessary heart evaluation. And instead of a filled plate, 

I have peace.

I want to encourage you to take a hard look at your "life plate." Perhaps God is asking you to do some heart evaluation. Are you stressed? Overwhelmed? What are you doing out of any reason other than obedience to God? I would love to help you by praying for you or coaching you through this! 

P.S. If you have not joined my ministry page on Facebook, this is your special invitation! Encouragement guaranteed. 

Living for ONE,

Kelli

I Wanna Be Great

photo credit

Don't we all? Let's be honest. We all have the desire deep down inside to be great. Here's how God dealt with me on that one... 

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 2 Cor. 2:14

This verse refers to the Roman triumph procession where the victorious general leads his soldiers and the captives that had been captured during wartime. I have to honestly say that every time I have read this verse before, I have seen myself as one of the soldiers marching behind God showing off my war trophies, listening to the applause, smelling the sweet incense, and shouting “Victory!”  You know, kind of like, “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.”  


And no doubt, I am indeed a part of his triumphant troops. However, as I was studying this verse, I felt God saying to me, “Kelli, you may be one of my soldiers, yes. But you are also the captive. Just as Paul saw himself as a prisoner in Christ – the only way you can have true radical victory in your life is to make yourself a bondslave to Christ, a prisoner to Christ, His captive.”

  

This idea is also shared by Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest. He says, 

“The viewpoint to maintain is that we are here for one purpose only – to be captives in the train of Christ’s triumphs. We are not in God’s showroom, we are here to exhibit one thing – the absolute captivity of our lives to Jesus Christ."

  

Ouch. How many times do I want God to put me in His “showroom”? Or how often do I want to get out my soldier’s uniform and my badges of honor and say to the world, “Look at me!”? And God says, 

“No, Kelli, remember you are the captive.” 

Thankfully, Christ has taken me as His prisoner. I am His captive, His bondslave. Oh, yes, I am able to march victoriously. But not because I have won any battles, or fought any wars on my own. Only because I have a victorious General who always marches in triumphal procession do I claim any victory.  

I know when I am a “captive to Christ,” God does His greatest work in me. When I am completely surrendered to Him and to His work in my life, He shows and shows out incredibly. When I was 23 years old, God gave me the awesome opportunity of ministering to college students. But I was 23! I felt so inadequate, so inexperienced, so not the person for the job. I stayed in that position of campus minister for three years and God blessed me and that ministry in a phenomenal way. I was totally “captive” to Him, totally depending on Him for my every move, my every word, my every opportunity. He was glorified! And I spread the sweet fragrance of Him as I went along.  

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.  2 Corinthians 3:5

You know why we cannot be adequate in ourselves. Because then pride would get in the way, and we could not glorify God. 

We would be glorifying ourselves – it’s in our sinful nature to want to be great and have others tell us we are great. 

God's glory is how God shows us who He is. To experience glory, we must realize that we are the captives graciously marching behind our Lord, our General and praise Him that He has given us the great responsibility of spreading the fragrance of the gospel. Because in our inadequacy and in our weakness as prisoners and captives, God shows us and the rest of the world how adequate and how strong He really is. 

What about you? Do you often think of yourself as a "soldier" or a "captive?" Share situations in which you have truly been “captive to Christ,” totally surrendered to Him, where He was able to do an awesome work through you.