It’s taking me a while to do my ‘ABC of me’ journal. But that’s ok because as I’ve blogged before, it’s about the journey not the destination.
This journal is in a notebook with thin pages so I’ve glued two pages together and I’m using mainly coloured pencils and the occasional felt pen with a fine liner to pick out detail.
The text behind the images on the right hand page comes from Isaiah 61 which speaks to me about my call and I used a grey felt pen to write so it would form a background.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners …”
Isaiah 61:1
The chains go along with the words from one of my favourite hymns by Charles Wesley “And can it be” which speaks of the amazing love of Jesus and the freedom I feel in following him.
I’m now half way through my training for Christian ministry and sometimes it feels like I’ve been training forever. Sometimes it’s difficult to juggle all the demands on my time and I also wonder what God has got in store for us as a family when I complete my training. There are lots of unknowns and that can be so unsettling.
It’s at these times that I return to the knowledge that I am called into this vocation by God. I chose to accept that calling and I responded in obedience. Because of that obedience I believe God will make everything work out according to his plan.
It is both a privilege and a responsibility to answer a call placed on our lives and this verse from 1 Timothy illustrates that. I am humbled by the knowledge that Jesus thinks I am trustworthy enough to serve him in this way, and I hope I will prove worthy of his trust.
In this service of the Lord, the privilege comes when I get to walk alongside people, sharing in the joys – births, baptism, and weddings, as well as the sorrows – struggles, illness, and grief. The responsibility comes in all these times as I seek to represent Christ and help to facilitate a meeting between God and his people, and as I try to show them the love that God has shown me. A huge responsibility that If I tried to do on my own I would fail miserably at.
But when Jesus returned to the Father, he sent us his Spirit, the ‘alongside one’, our counsellor, often represented by a dove, as on my art journal page. So we do not have to do things in our own strength, but in God’s.
So, what are you called to do or be? Where is God wanting you to serve him today? And will you accept the privilege and responsibility that comes with that call? And will you allow God’s Spirit to guide and to counsel you?
For another blog on being called, see here
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