Striving & 'Getting there'...

Joshua 3:5
Joshua told the people,
"Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the
LORD will do amazing things among you."

Consecrate: To make, or declare to be, sacred; to appropriate to sacred uses; to set apart, dedicate, or devote, to the service or worship of God; as, to consecrate a church; to give (one's self) unreservedly, as to the service of God.

God has recently (o-kay, for QUITE AWHILE!) been telling me I need to get off of the fence and "dive into" the life He's called me to. It's been easy to sit on the sidelines and view others in their walk with the Lord. I watch as others go before me to see what their outcome will be as I am reserved by fear of the unknown.

I have had a relationship with the Lord for years, however, I am usually a "wallflower" in the dance of life. Fear of rejection and fears of many kinds keep me from being everything He wants me to be. I will "tiptoe" into the unknown slowly, become effective, but then eventually stand dormant, afraid to go any further.

My destiny has always been just out of my reach as I fear success. I understand how foolish that may seem to fear success, yet my past is full of failure, and there is a certain comfort in letting people down. That, I know how to recover from.

I know what it is like to rise into a place God has called me into only to miserably fail (Bigtime, I might add). That failure prevents me from trying again unfortunately. Not that I don't want to try, I just simply feel like I always screw things up, and I hate the feeling of letting God down.

Obviously, there are some incorrect mindsets in my above paragraphs in which God has been speaking to, one being: God doesn't ask me to be perfect, nor does He expect me to be.

I am hungry...I want everything God has promised...I want to be used by God...I want to be effective in the Kingdom of God...I want to feel as if I am accomplishing something...

Haha! But I am...

That is another mindset that has to go! Everytime I choose to write on this blog, I am allowing God to use my words to minister to others. Everytime I do a name picture, I am allowing God to speak through my hands and my heart. Everytime I open my mouth and pray for someone, God is shaking the spiritual realm of darkness through my prayers. Everytime I do one of the things God has called me to do, I am "inching" my way, one step closer, in my destiny.

Destiny isn't "arriving"... Destiny is living in the here and now, and I believe this is a life process we live out until the day God calls us heavenward.

I am always trying to "arrive"! Not sure what it is I am expecting as I strive to "get there": lack of pain? no more problems? never sinning? being 'perfect'? never 'getting it wrong'?

God is calling me to 'get there' or 'arrive' in the everyday decisions He places before me: Am I going to exercise or be lazy today? Am I going to read His word, the Holy Bible or the newspaper? Am I going to reach out and encourage my family in the Lord or am I going to criticize and judge? Am I going to reach out to my natural family or push them aside because they aren't where I think they should be? Am I going to 'walk the walk I talk' for my children or only in the presence of others?

Somewhere in my past, I was taught that I have to strive and 'be all that I can be', when I think God just simply wants us to "be" in His presence. There is a time to be a "Martha", but when God shows up in our presence, He simply just wants us to be "Mary", sitting at His feet and worshiping Him for HE IS HOLY! When we allow ourselves to simply "be", it is then that HE CAN "Do" through us.

For it is GOD who works in you to WILL and to ACT according to HIS good purpose. Philippians 2:13

We simply have to be vessels in which He can work through...