4AM: song playing: My God is so great. My God is so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do. Oh, you guessed it. It doesn’t just play once, but again and again and again. Argh. I know what that means. God wants me up. He’s got lessons to give. He has points to drive home. He has a summary for me.

I had some weird dreams that got me thinking in between the running’s of my wakeup song. They were leading me to a special verse in the Bible, and the special message was “CHANGE.” I remembered one of my most favorite passages in the Bible. It’s one I wanted to read at my grandma’s funeral, but never did for many reasons (that’s another story one day). I was pulled to chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon late in his life. The chapter starts out with his general observations looking back on life, and opens with a beautiful poetic tribute to “A Time for Everything.” I was led to write my own momentary point in time view of my history with God.

It goes like this: A time to be born; a time to be reborn.

A time to be broken; a time to be healed.

A time to feel hate; a time to know love.

A time to venture; a time for submission.

A time to be hurt; a time to forgive.

A time to sacrifice; a time to be blessed.

A time to wither; a time to grow.

A time to grieve; a time to let go.

A time for status quo; a time for change.

So, what’s the point of all this reflection? Exactly- the question. Yes, I believe God is showing me that no matter what I’m going through that He ultimately has my back. He has the plan. My reflection is on the point that I am going to work next week. That is a paid job, as in work, as compared to my job the last ten years of being a stay at home mom, and not getting paid, at least not in dollars anyway. I never really saw this one coming. I thought for sure that God’s track for me while I was at home being obedient to the call of parenting little ones with a constant presence, was to prepare me for the next thing. I can clearly see that during that time that I have experienced mass spiritual growth. I mean we are talking in my 44 years of life, so far these last 10 years have been about astounding and exponential growth. The reasons for my growth are many (but that too is for another story).

The problem is that I envisioned and thought I saw what God had mapped out for me with this spiritual maturity and call on my life. I think a lot of people thought the same thing. I was on a track- then detour sign. I think I was on whatever track for God because He was building in me trust, and confidence in who I was- in Him. I KNOW God always has plans for me. And the plans I thought that would come to fruition I was happy and excited about. But then came this detour sign.

I think my lesson is the same as Solomon’s was. After his beautiful discourse on “A Time for Everything” he questions what “it’s” all about. Why work so hard at something? What is our purpose? What are we called to do? What is our ministry for the moment? What has God equipped me to do? And I conclude as Solomon does, that we are here to just stand in awe of God and marvel at His amazing detailed involvement in our lives with a brazen realization that HE has the bigger picture (and we don’t). So, once we let go of thinking we know where God has us going, we can be open to just realizing that change will come. Detour signs will be placed in the road. Obedience and grace is about doing as God calls for the “time” being.

And my dear friend, it will change as time goes by. Our call and our ministry work is ever changing and static. Our call, its scope will change. Our ministry, its sphere of influence will change. One moment it’s macro ministry to hundreds in a sermon, and then the next moment it’s a micro ministry to one friend whose life depends on you. The summary of God’s lesson is that there is one main purpose to our lives that never changes. That never changing purpose for our lives is to revere God and to stand in awe of Him, the great master weaver of the fabric of our lives!

Be blessed dear friends. This is not a good bye. God still has a call on my life to minister online and in person. He will build and use me for what He has equipped. I am just blessed that He can expand my territory to a work environment as well. Maybe one day I will be doing full time teaching and speaking, or maybe I already am? All I know is that I am blessed, and stand in awe of God loving me and giving me purpose and using me for His glory. Can I get an- AMEN?