I’d like to ask you all to be praying for me as I have the opportunity to paint and co-lead a workshop this weekend at the Call2 Ministry Conference in Ringgold, Georgia this weekend. This is a conference for young people who are feeling the call to ministry. I am humbled by the privilege and it brought me to a thought.
I was chatting with an arts ministry friend, Lisa Marten from VineArts Boise, about this opportunity and I became overwhelmed. When I was the age of the people I am going to be speaking to, I was far from God. The idea of ministry for me seemed so far outside the realm of possibility. I wasn’t even really a believer. Now here I am and in a little over a day God will be using me to speak into the lives of people so precious to Him. People He has called to spread His Gospel to the ends of the earth. God is going to somehow use me to do this. Guys, I claim no glory for this. It’s all God, but what He has done for me and how He got me from there to here is nothing short of a miracle.
To say I believe in God is an understatement, but that’s not the mind-blowing part. When someone has done as much for you as He has for me, belief should be a no-brainer. No the mind-blowing thing is God has entrusted this privilege to me. God believes in me! I can’t even wrap my head around that, but He does and it’s not just me, He believes in all He calls.
God believes in you. He knows what He put in you and He knows what you will do. Be faithful and move forward in your call. God is with you, God loves you. God believes in you…
For me, it depends on the definition of “believe.” God is our biggest fan! I like to think of it like that.
A loving parent is his own kid’s biggest fan. We are like a toddler who is “helping” to bring in the groceries without breaking too many eggs. God can do it just fine without us, but he chooses to let us participate and we all get a big kick out of it together. He has a huge smile on his face as he praises us: “Good job, honey!” as he mops broken egg shells from the floor.
My own faithfulness is so unreliable, and God knows it. He knows that even my best motives are tinted by my own selfishness. He knows my heart has dark places that I conveniently forget to offer him for examination and open-heart surgery.
I believe in my friends, as in, I am FOR them in every way, and they are for me. But whenever my friends have made the mistake of putting their faith in me, they’ve come out hurt and disappointed. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true. My friends love me anyway, they forgive me, and they’ve learned not to put all their money on me.
All that to say: God is always faithful and he alone is worthy to believe in (in a faith kind of way).
None of this surprises God, who knows everything about me, loves my precious mine-field of a heart, and sees every struggle I will ever have. He doesn’t hold my faithlessness against me; it’s nailed to the cross (God doesn’t even see it… “See what?”… wink). My faithfulness will keep growing toward Christlikeness as my Father lets me play in his work. Meanwhile God is not angry with me, as Graham Cooke likes to say, and God can never be never disillusioned with me (like I could fool God in the first place). <3 He knows who I really am, and he remains my biggest, most enthusiastic fan. For me, a clumsy toddler at heart, that really takes the pressure off.
I will be praying for you, my dear brother, as you partner with God in his super-amazing and exciting work in the arts. Like me, you'll make some mistakes, but God will always be smiling on you.
Thanks for this Jessie. You have touched on the part that I struggled with in my wording.
God bless,
Dave