Life happens now.

The last few days I’ve been thinking about how I should be living purposefully for the kingdom. This question keeps repeating in my head:

How am I living intentionally for the kingdom?

It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life. Meals need to be made, dishes and laundry washed, diapers changed, errands to run, meetings to attend, and so on. Life passes by and at times I find myself in a quiet moment thinking, ‘Where did it go?’

I can get so consumed in the details that I forget to look up and see the big picture. The vision of life.

There’s always a to do list and needs to be met, but I’ve come to a point where I can’t let that hinder me from fulfilling the purposes God has set before me. I don’t mean that those are distracting me from my “greater purpose.” But cooking, child-rearing, managing our house are all part of the big picture. Life can’t be compartmentalized. It happens. Together.

God’s ultimate purpose is for me to live a life that honors and glorifies him. He wants me to live like that whether I’m in full-time ministry, serving overseas, or washing diapers. Every aspect of our lives is to bring honor and glory to God. In the kingdom of God there is no service greater than another.

I think it’s so easy to get caught in the trap of “I have to have a ministry.” In a way, Christianity today sets us up to think we have to have a “ministry” and it has to look like x, y, and z. But the truth is if we’re alive and a lover of Jesus, then we have a ministry. It’s called your life.

That’s why we can’t wait for life to happen. We can’t sit and wait for the perfect timing to lead a bible study or when our husbands become pastors or we enter into the mission field or teach Sunday School. Life happens now. Every day. And it needs to be lived now.

Minister where you are with what God has given you.

There was a song back in the mid-90’s called Use Me Here that God used to change my perspective on moving to Japan (as a teenager) when I had no desire to go:

Use me here, where I am I’m not going to pray anymore that you’ll change your plans

Despite my fears I’ve placed my life in Your hands

The future can wait, tomorrow might be too late

Jesus, use me here

Life happens now.

Am I wasting it? Am I wishing for a different circumstance? A different season?

Is there something God is calling me to do now that I’m not because it doesn’t fit into my plan, my box?

Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God. Jim Elliot

God’s given me the privilege of being a mother. My mission is to raise up the next generation in righteousness and love of the Lord. It’s no small task, but how easy Satan and the world tempts us to say, “Oh…I’m just a stay-at-home mom.” As if that’s not important enough! Remember, “the hand that rocks the cradle runs the world!”

My scope of influence extends beyond my son to my husband. As his wife I have the joy of not just serving alongside him, but being an integral part of the mission God’s given him. It wasn’t proclaimed good until Adam had Eve. I could keep going and going.

Life is ministry, not just what happens in the church building.

Where has all this musing on living intentionally for the kingdom left me? Getting focused. Keeping a right perspective. Not wasting my days in wishful self-pity.  I want to live and walk in joy. I want to pass a legacy onto my children. I want to see the vision and not just the ground. I want to live, dream, and raise a family with my husband that honors God. I want to live a life of purposeful hope. I don’t want to live a wasteful life.

There’s a few things I want to be more intentional about: hospitality, evangelism, spiritual growth, a higher calling (the mission of motherhood), and Scripture memory. I’ll share as I think more throughly over these things.

How about you? How is God calling you to live now?

Tagged as: Living for the Kingdom, Living Intentionally, quotes