Doing Something Big

I have a very vivid, very clear memory of me as a child looking out of my basement bedroom window and having an overwhelming feeling that God had created me to do something big. I had no clue what that meant, but I knew that whatever it was, it would be special...something that only I could do.

The years passed and my life unfolded in a pretty unspectacular way. I went to school, graduated from college, got a job and eventually got married. Then one day fairly early on in our marriage, my husband and I were talking and he told me that growing up, he had felt that God had something big for him to do in his life. Hmm...sounded kind of familiar.

But as the years have passed, neither one of us has found a cure for cancer, written a best-selling book or made a name for ourselves in any field whatsoever. At times, our life has seemed more like a matter of simply surviving; tough financial times, raising kids, job changes, caring for aging parents. The list goes on, but there is certainly nothing that stands out as "something big."

Last night I was reading my son, David's, blog. A recent posting was entitled "I've Been Doing Big Things." And right there in the third paragraph I found this. "For the longest time I have felt like God has called me to “do something big.” I’ve never known exactly what that meant, but deep down inside was the feeling that God created me to do something significant." Wow! It was as if I was a child, looking out of my bedroom window and I was hearing God's voice once again. But this time, I have a better understanding of what that "something"means.

I believe that God taps each one of us on the shoulder and in some way whispers (or shouts), "Hey, I have something very, very special for YOU to do. I need YOU because YOU'RE the ONLY person who can do this. Are you with me?"

I can say this because scripture tells us that God made each one of us special and unique. Psalm 139:13-14 says "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." After all, He made us in His very image. And He also has a plan and a purpose for each and everyone of us. The often quoted passage in Jeremiah 29 tells us that God says, "For I know the plans I have for you..."

Now here's the real revelation. Perhaps we need to step back and look at our definition of "big," "special," or "significant." I venture to say that as children, our thoughts of what those terms mean are still untainted by what this world tells us they mean. As we grow older, we start associating such things as power, wealth and recognition as the yard stick by which we measure our successes or failures, even, I dare to say, in our walk with the Lord. How many people have "we" led to the Lord? Are we recognized as a leader in our church? How many mission trips have we been on?

Recently in my devotions I read a passage from the book by Charles Swindoll entitled "Great Days with the Great Lives." Swindoll tells the story of the early life of Moses. Briefly put, Moses was ready to step up and do some major stuff in the deliverance of his Hebrew brothers. However, a couple of them quickly put him in his place which sent him skid -daddling out into the middle of the Midian desert. Here he comes across seven sisters who are being harassed by some shepherds as they try to water their flocks. Moses steps in and saves the day! Not exactly the act of deliverance he had envisioned for himself. But Swindoll sums it up this way, "If you can't do the good you would, do the good you can."

I love this! Because as more of my life ends up behind me, I realize it's not turning out exactly as I had planned. My "something special" has not looked like I thought it would. At times I've wonder if I've missed the boat and completely let God down. But more and more, I'm realizing the importance of simply doing the things that I "can" and trusting God to turn them into "big" things for Him.

In my son's posting, he went on to explain his recent revelation about doing "something big" like this: "I always wanted that to be something in the spotlight, something that involved power and influence, maybe even a decent salary, if I’m completely honest with myself. To me that would be “big.”
Over the last 4 1/2 years, I have been in ministry and while I have seen the significance of it and while I have loved helping people dive into deep passionate relationships with Christ, I never viewed it as that “big thing.” I’ve always been waiting for something more. Something “bigger.”
Yet the other day I had the realization that there is nothing bigger than helping people come to personal, intimate, authentic relationships with Christ."

Wow, I think he's got it! And that's something big!