Hello Friends,

Today I am reminded that God is in all things.  Nothing really happens to us that isn’t first sifted through nail-scarred hands.  I am not unlike everyone else in that I too face opposition, disappointment, and difficulty.  And like most, there are times when while in the midst of an uncomfortable situation, I wonder why things are as they are.  But invariably if I turn my eyes upon Jesus and look fully into who He is, He reveals to me His presence, His sovereignty, and His immeasurable love.

Yesterday, I had such an encounter with the Lord. I have been busy trying to finish a book entitled, “In His Presence.”  I mention the title here because the irony is just so magnificent that I would be remiss if I didn’t.  While trying to meet editorial demands, publisher suggestions, and a whole host of deadlines, and changes, I found myself trying to make sense of chaos, doubting the work that God had done through me, and listening to people try to change my assignment, an assignment that wasn’t theirs.  Now, I know that everyone in the process has their strengths and their job, but writing styles, literary preferences and standards can’t trump what God has given me.  So, there I sit, confused and dazed.  My mental fog and fatigue weren’t because I didn’t understand my assignment from God.  It was because I was allowing others, people not part of the assignment, to speak into it.  While navigating His call upon my life, and working towards the fulfillment of this assignment, at this particular time, I had placed myself in the presence of everyone but Him.

The longer “they” talked the more uneasy I became.  The longer I lingered the more confused and chaotic my thoughts became. Then suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, an unlikely voiced entered the conversation speaking truth that they didn’t even know they were speaking.  They mentioned that this book, “In His Presence,” was different than others because it was about “God desiring a personal relationship, not a religious routine.”  This stopped me in my tracks.  At that moment I knew that I had made the process of publishing this book more about the routine of being a book, than the fulfillment of an assignment.  Though it had been written with every word being directed, chosen, and carefully positioned by God, the voices speaking into me were now taking it from Him, making it routine and making it fit into a mold it was never intended to fill.  What had started as a process to get God’s Word out had somehow morphed into a process to make the Holy, the Divine, blend into the landscape of all other books.

God is never meant to be routine.  He is never meant to blend in with anything.  He is Almighty.  He is magnificent.  He is truly amazing, all powerful, and the One and only True, Living God. His calling is without repentance, and His assignments need no earthly approval, or any of man’s assistance.  He is God.  He is the conductor of my life, the director of my work, the author of my faith, and the completer of my assignments. 

My friend, it is easy to get so busy working for the Lord that you forget the Lord of the work.  His assignments are hand-picked for you by Him.  So, let Him take the lead, direct the work, and complete what He begins.  Look for Him in all things.  He is already there!

In His Service,
Kimmy