Purpose and devotion


Life has taken me on holidays and back this summer. I love to experience how life is lived by others. I met so many amazing people and found new motivation in the sun to get up earlier than lunch time and exercise (no small feat for a creature such as myself)! Coming back home brings familiar joys and disappointments alike... Things don't appear as if they have changed at all, but life in fact continues with my absence!


Disappointment in people is an easy trap to fall into, where you see them walk willfully into a world of compromise and desires and away from the narrow road of what is good...you want to shake them and say "I've been there, I've lost, I've hurt, I've regretted, don't walk away, don't do it!" But, as a wise man once told me: "people are where they want to be." I know precisely what it's like to desire friendship, relationship and acceptance above all else and it only brings home an empty jar of satisfaction and memories full of regret and shame. Finding a boyfriend/girlfriend should not to be our main prerogative lest we goal to end up hurt, lost and our vision blurred when it comes to knowing what God wants for us. Him first, us second.


Having a large circle of "friends" is shallow and therefore results in bringing only shallow and momentary "happiness." In a world of darkness, our walk is not easy. I don't know why people walk around convinced that we only ever need to be uplifted and encouraged, never challenged. No, we must stand in a hard place and shout His promises through fear, trouble and silence. We should be challenged to retain focus even when Brad Pitt walks by. Silence is sometimes the worst, we get restless and look for laughing, hype and entertainment amongst peers and the opposite sex when we should be closing our bedroom door and building our armour quietly in preparation for the battles of life. We should be growing our relationship with Him and not be concerned with the numbers of young people in the local church or by how entertained we are feeling. In silence we prepare and wait for the Lord's plan to unfold and in HIS timing do blessings pour forth. This is what I have learned and am still learning.


To my friends who I am praying for, don't walk away from the awesome plans God has for you. You will not find His plans in the same place where you find satisfaction of the eyes, body and emotions. You will not find His greatest blessings under the same rock that you find the pretty surfy girls and the handsome boys, nor all the "friends" and the popularity. It says in His word that the road of salvation is narrow and so too should our focus be narrow. If we let our eyes wander away from our number one purpose of bringing the light of salvation into the dark places and hearts of the world, then we will never end up in the place where we can find the right partner, help the greatest amount of people and win the greatest amount of souls for the kingdom.