God Works with Us in Different Ways

In one of our weekly staff meetings, the presenter for that week, asked the question, "What motivated you spiritually in seeking God's truth?"  I was struck by the different answers that were given. 

One was his desire to learn prophecy, another lady was 10 while in Sunday school and the teacher kept saying "us" in talking about God.  She had always assumed that there was one God, but the "us" statement that her Sunday school teacher kept saying sparked her questions about God. Someone else said it was when he was 13 and went to camp.  Being placed in such a positive environment and all that he was learning was a turning point for him. 

When I listened to the different stories, I was struck on how vastly different our situations were when God began to work with us.  

Mine, unlike many others who were called while in a wonderful safe environment, was a very different environment. When I went home at the age of 14, after years of living in many different foster homes, my world became even worse.  I wish not to go into it here in this article, because it is not the point of this article.  You can read about it here: Take Action, Your Life May Depend on It

Like one staff member who was called at the young age of 13, God called me at 14.  We both felt the need for God and it was a turning point in our lives. Neither my circumstances nor the other person's was less important in how God worked with us.  I needed God for survival.  It was through my horrible environment that I reached out to God. 

We have all been called in many different ways, different environments, different backgrounds, and with different personalities.  One of the things that shows God to be so awesome is His ability to know how to work with each and every one of us in many different ways.  God knows the perfect timing, works through our different circumstances and with our different personalities.  This only proves to me of how involved He is in our lives.  You have to really know a person to be able to work with them in such a special way that will make a profound difference in their lives. God does! 

Sometimes we may even stress over the fact that our children are not interested in God and His way of life.  But it is God who does the calling and in His time (John 6:44, John 6:65).  We just have to keep praying and waiting for God's perfect time, trusting and knowing that it is not God's will to lose one person (1 Timothy 2:3-4).

Before I go further with the article, I wanted to explain what being called by God means to me. What does being called mean?  It is a time in your life, a turning point when you knew something was wrong with your life. You have an emptiness that nothing seems to fill. Nothing seems to be going right! It is the wakeup call, so to speak.  It is at this point that you realize you can't do it without God's help.  You know your life has to change. You realize that it is He and nothing else, and no one else can fill that empty hole in your heart.  This is when God reaches down to give you a hand and begins to fill your empty heart. It is then that you begin this awesome journey of growth and changing with the help of someone who loves you more than anyone else, your Father in Heaven! That would be your beginning point that you would always need to reflect back on to keep you going. 

The song "Not Many Wise Men Now Are Called" by Dwight Armstrong, taken from 1 Corinthians 1:25-31, sheds light on this powerful thing that is happening in all of us. It is good for us to reflect on our calling, and talk about it with others.  It helps us to reflect on the miracle that God is working out in all of us, for His great purpose and His great goodness in our lives. So when you get discouraged and feel as though God is not there, go back to your beginnings. Go back to the point when you knew God was calling you.  If God invested that much time in you then with the perfect timing and circumstances, He certainly is not going to quit on you now!  Reflect on your calling; it will restore your hope.