Where I Am And Where God Wants Me To Be

“If someone had told me that someday I would settle on the far side of the sea, eat bugs, poison myself, hold over a dozen scorpions in my hand, stand barefoot by a tarantula and allow a wall spider to spend the night above my pillow, I would have laughed. Those antics are for people who compete for prize money on television! No amount of money could entice me to do such things!” – excerpt from Bloom Where God Plants You, (Reflections of a mission mom living in Malawi, Africa) by Rebecca Wendland.

This is a pretty common question among believers today: How do I get to where I need to go from where I am now. It’s an amazing and fulfilling thing to live life in line with God’s design and calling on your life. But it can seem difficult and overwhelming to discover it. The simple answer is trust that God has placed you where you are.

We are not placed on this earth coincidently. God will bring people and situations in our lives in His perfect timing. Our task is to love the best we can with what we’ve been given. When we pay attention to the people and the work God placed in our lives, the journey becomes more enjoyable. Sometimes, we’ll pick others up. Other times, they will pick us up. Our job is to embrace our place in life because we are right where God wants us to be.

And wherever you are, make a commitment to your local church. Minister within your local church. Ask what you can contribute to the Body of Christ through your involvement. Remember, “a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Corinthians 12:7). It isn’t enough to know we have spiritual gifts, we need to use them.

God has a purpose for your life. He desires to grow you so He can use you for His glory and purpose. That means we must be content and bloom wherever we are planted and try to see it as a lesson we need to learn, and time that we need to grow. So what soil has God planted you in today? Will you grow where you’re planted?

I challenge you to reevaluate the importance of the local church in your own life. God’s desire is for His people to commune with each other in the local body. Do you? Now is a good time to begin planting your roots deeply into the local church.

Discussion Questions:

What does the idea of being “planted” mean to you?
What can we do this week to better serve the local church?