Created for More Than This

This morning, we were confronted with a very difficult situation.  One that I cannot explain here with many words, but only to say that we have mourned for one of our staff members today.

This morning, we pulled her aside and talked with her about the situation she found herself in.  We mourned her choices.  But, I think what we mourned most wasn't her behavior or her choices, it was that she had no idea that she was created for so much more.

Sometimes I wish that others could see what God has given us eyes to see.

I wish that this woman could open her eyes, look into the mirror, and see the one whom God created.

I listened as Johnbull talked to her as a father, drawing her close to his heart, and Stacy held her hand and spoke truth.  And tears spilled down my cheeks when I spoke over her the truth of Psalm 139 which says,

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

 

As I read those words to her, I felt like she NEEDED to understand her identity in this.  That God is with her in every choice that she makes.  He sees even in the darkest of places. 

 

And most of all, that HE CREATED HER FOR SO MUCH MORE...

 

I talked to her about being single here and the difficulty it can be to be in ministry and single, but that God has designed a perfect plan for her life...HE CREATED HER FOR SO MUCH MORE...

 

We gathered around, affirming the truths of her character, rebuking the past that comes too often to haunt her, reminding her again and again HE CREATED HER FOR SO MUCH MORE...

 

And it was in that moment, I realized that THIS is why we are here.

 

It is to rescue the lost and the broken.

 

Sometimes, the lost and the broken look like a small and scared boy fishing with his master on a lake.

 

And sometimes, the lost and the broken look like a full-grown adult making choices that will forever alter her future.

 

And we have a choice to close our eyes to the needs in our very own family...or we can rescue.

 

We can speak life.

 

We can impart truth.

 

We can love without bounds.

 

We can speak with eyes to see God's creation...and that they were created for so much more than what they are comprimising for.

 

And so we do.  And I pray, we will continue to do so.  With arms wide open.  With eyes wide open.  Fully prepared to battle for the truth...for our kids, our staff, our families...