Godly Gals ~ Lisa Spence

I am forty-one years old. Not old, not at all, but old enough to gain some degree of perspective. There are many good things about forty-one. For one, I am more comfortable in my own skin. The other day as we were leaving for one of the multitude of basketball games we attend this time of year, I remarked that there was time in my life I would have never gone to such an event wearing jeans and tee shirt. “You’re more comfortable now,” my husband told me. Right he is, in more ways than one.

I do miss my younger, aforementioned zeal. Like my friend, I had dreams, and as most dreams go, they were big, bold, amazing dreams. I was going to go! do! accomplish! I was merely waiting on the Lord to color in the lines, fill in the blanks, and grant my hearts’ desire. Oh, I had my insecurities, then same as now, but I had sought so fervently for my calling and purpose that I knew—I knew—He would do all that I expected.

The view at forty-one is a little fuzzier, a little grayer. I’ve discovered that sometimes the Lord grants dreams and sometimes He doesn’t. Sometimes He does more than I can ask or imagine–not by granting me the glamorous life I dreamed of–but by teaching me His sufficiency in the small, ordinary life. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I was so confident He had called me to the “big” that I am sometimes surprised at the “small” that marks my life. Who dreams of the mundane kind of life I lead? No one, at least no one in our culture of significance found in accomplishment.

Jesus’ demand to take up the cross, die to self and follow Him isn’t exactly the stuff dreams are made of but it is exactly the kind of life He calls me to whether my ministry takes place at the speaker’s podium or in the minivan. In fact, in a culture that so highly esteems success and achievement, embracing a life of ordinary obscurity shouts the sufficiency of Christ. He is the Treasure and He is enough. My citizenship is not of this world, why not my dreams as well?

Don’t get me wrong. The Lord does indeed grant some a wide berth of influence and I am grateful for those men and women who proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in such public venues. However, He calls far more of us to testify of His supremacy in the humble, simple, small life.

I can’t wait to see the Lord’s faithful provision in my friend’s life. Whatever He asks, wherever He leads, I pray she follows Him in humble, joy-filled submission, seeking His glory in all things, “big” or “small.”

May I do likewise.