Midway through my ten day training camp for the World Race, I had a teammate come up to me explaining God had put it in his heart to pray for me. I had never been approached that way in my life, but I gladly accepted and I’m very thankful that I did.
As he prayed, he went from talking to God on my behalf, to talking to me on Gods behalf. He told me how the events in my life have all played a role in shaping me into the man that I am today, and that I’m exactly where God intended for me to be.
When I recall events from my past, I remember asking God: Why me? Why this? Why now? The pain and heartaches I’ve been through always took me away from the things in my life that should have been appreciated.
When you look back on your life and think of your own special journey, the times that come to your mind are the ones your soul believes have been its most defining moments. Its natural for us to focus on the negative times, more than on the positive.
As we look at our life’s cup, we tend to have our attention on what’s being taken out of it, not what’s being poured into it. We fail to realize and appreciate that without water leaving our cup, there’s no room for clean and fresh water to enter. Sometimes the only thing that is blinding and preventing us from new beginnings is our lack of willingness to let go of old endings.
Now when I look at my cup, I see that the hole at the bottom (that I had relentlessly tried to clog during my life) is God. I’m finding the more I trust in him, the larger the hole in my cup is becoming. His intentions aren’t to suck my cup dry, but rather to fill my cup as fast as possible with his fresher, cleaner water.
He wants to give us all a new life, full of his love and mercy. With his love and mercy comes the ability to abandon all the hurt and pain we’ve experienced in our past, while also giving us the chance to understand and appreciate the lessons that he intended them to bring.
I cant imagine how shallow my soul would be if I had never traveled the path that I have. My journey has been absolutely necessary in order for me to grow into the man that I am today,
and was required in order for me to take on the challenges God had always planned on giving me… Even when I didn’t know the reason or intentions of my past, he did.
Two days ago, I was in a meeting with two mentors as well as the team I would be doing ministry with around the world over the next 11 months. At the end of our conversation, our mentors asked the team this question – “How would you feel if Marius was your team leader?”
I was shocked and surprised, but instantly my life and God’s grace began to make sense. I was overwhelmed with emotions and tears began to roll down my face. It was then that I understood why God had given me the journey that he has given me.
When you find the purpose of your past and discover the reason God has given you all of the experiences he has, it makes all the bad times worth it. Nothing has been more rewarding in my life than God giving me the responsibility to lead others around the world in a way that glorifies him and his kingdom. This was the most humbling moment of my life.
I am now aware that all of my life has been in preparation for this.
I may fail at leading these people…or I may succeed… Regardless, I know it is for a reason. Somehow I will gain a lesson that I was meant to learn, for some greater purpose that I will know when God decides I’m able enough to understand it.
When you look back on your life, I pray you can find this same appreciation for your own journey. I hope you see that God is, and has been, building you and your life into something that he has greater purpose for. Sometimes there are hills to go up and back down before you get to your own mountain top. But once you reach the summit and look back on the forest that is your own life, you will never see or appreciate a more rewarding and beautiful view.
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