To encourage women so that they can live with joyful purpose, abandoned surrender, and solely for God's glory.~ Part 2 of Hidden Valley Simplicity's blog purpose.
(The entire purpose statement can be found here and Part 1 of this series can be found here)
So much packed into a statement, that at first, seems simple. It is so not simple however.
Joyful purpose. . .
That I can work with. I have discovered the exact purpose for my life and with that discovery comes joy and passion. How can there not be joy when one wakes up every morning with a reason? Unless you're fighting with God on what your purpose is supposed to be, chances are, if you know what it is, it will give your life such meaning and beauty, the joyful purpose of that statement above will be pretty easy to achieve.
Then it gets nitty gritty. Smack-down-gotta-fall-to-our-face-and-plead-for-help-nitty-gritty.
Abandoned surrender.
My life motto. How I sign my private journal entries.
The very thought terrifies me at time. Just what, does God want me to abandon in surrender? Just what might He take and ask me to pass fully into His hands?
My first fear with this is my children.
"Anything but my children!" my heart cries out. I have this terror sometimes
(and terror is the correct word of choice)
that He will require my willingness to surrender my beautiful babies to Him in a move that will cost me my heart.
Actually, to even consider it costs me my heart.
"Yet He who spared not His own Son. . . "
This resounds in my head as I struggle to let go.
He is Father. Daddy. He spared not for my sake. Can I spare for His sake?
For His glory.
Oh, I can spare my time. My money. My home. My car. My hobbies. But my children? My husband? My dreams? These things that make up who I am. Without which, I would not have purpose. . . can I surrender that?
Indeed. Can I surrender with full abandon my purpose which gives me reason? Would He be enough when He is all I have left?
Is He enough?
Why ask this question? Do I have to even go there? Do I have to go to this painful place of self-examination and challenge?
I do have to go there. Because of the third part of the statement: "solely for God's glory".
It isn't about me. It's about God. A holy, righteous, loving, sovereign, perfect-purpose God.
Not people seeing Melissa. People seeing God. Am I so willing for His glory I will abandon all I clasp tightly, to His will?
Right now, in this moment, as I talk to Him as I write this, yes. My "yes" is with fearful, tearful hesitation and fear of what it will require, but my heart longs for His glory so I can say, "Yes, I will abandon it all so I can surrender to You. I cast myself in abandoned surrender that the foot of The Cross where You bled in abandoned surrender. As I kneel at the pierced feet of my Savior who's raw wounds cover my head with cleansing blood, I hold up my fearful heart with all that it passionately loves and say, 'This is my offering, oh wounded Redeemer, Beautiful Savior. I can hold nothing back from this Love before me.' "
That's in this moment.
An hour from now, The Cross will fade from my heart view and I will shift my eyes once again to my earthly perspective and instead of abandoning it all, I'm holding tightly again, stating with fierceness, "Mine. It's mine!"
Until I realize I've lost my joyful purpose for life.
Suddenly my purpose has become self-protection and attempts to control my situations and circumstances. It has become about what I feel is best for me. Lack-lustre takes over my life and I wonder where the joy went. Yet again, I realize it's because I'm holding on with my fists clenched.
Joyful purpose can only come with abandoned surrender that is lived out for His glory. Joyful purpose can be found no other way.
It is in abandoned surrender to His glory that we find our joy.
