Drought relief and our higher purpose

What a joy to see the transformation of the drought stricken regions in these last few months, as I travelled into the Northern Territory as well as Northern and Central Queensland; Seeing life and hope coming back into the eyes of both man and beast. For the first time in 11 years I saw green grass everywhere – answered prayer. Formally dry rivers and creeks have turned to liquid gold, bare barren ground turned into swamps supporting abundant bird life. Thank You Lord!

To those who I couldn’t visit this trip, I apologise – impending heavy rains chased me home! What a wonderful problem to have. If you would like a visit next trip, please let me know.

This month I feel to write on ‘You Have a Destiny’. Each one of us was placed here on this earth with a specific purpose, a redemptive purpose – a destiny so unique that only you can fulfill it. You weren’t an accident, you weren’t a mistake, you are meant to be here. You are highly valued in God’s sight. Jeremiah 1:5 confirms it this way, ‘Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew and approved of you’. From the moment we arrive on this earth, there are resistant forces at work, seeking to hinder you reaching that destiny. The good news is that no matter what you go through, or how you may feel you have blown it, God can turn it for good. It’s NEVER too late! Nothing we experience is wasted; mistakes we’ve made can be used to help others avoid those same traps.

We’re here on this earth as a TEAM to function in our highest purpose, to make the world a better place, to enrich the lives of others and make a difference on our journey through. When we resist giving or withhold our contribution, it leaves ‘a gap in the wall’ and we lack that inner sense of deep fulfillment for which all humanity longs. We are not here on earth just passing through living for ourselves and grabbing all we can get. We are part of a bigger picture. Some of the most miserable people I’ve ever met have financial wealth, but are completely devoid of fulfillment because material things have not filled that ‘God shaped vacuum’ on the inside of them. True and lasting fulfillment comes only from acknowledging that inner emptiness and coming to the realisation that there is more to life, something is missing.

Your life may have been a bit like mine or completely different. As a young child, I always had an awareness of God – of a Power far bigger than I. I loved God (who I couldn’t see but always sensed very close). My parents set a Godly example in our home. In the most part they lived their faith. In boarding school years, whilst attending compulsory Church Service, I sincerely sought for something practical that I could run with for the week but, try as I may, it often seemed dry and irrelevant.

Fast-forward to marriage, raising four sons and co-managing and owning cattle properties with my husband God was, for the most part, put on the shelf. I always believed in Him, but He was not included in my decision-making and ‘I did it my way’. There was a vacuum.  We all try to fill this inner void with stuff – alcohol, drugs, lusts of all kinds or making ever more money or accumulating more things, thinking that will satisfy us.  We try to fill that God shaped void in our hearts. Some of us try to find short cuts to God, new age teaching, mind power seminars, clairvoyance, trying to make sense of it all. While these things look attractive short term, they bring no lasting fulfillment. When we personally choose to invite Jesus to be our Saviour and we step off the throne of ‘self’ and invite him to take the steering wheel of our life, wondrous things transpire. I share transparently with you that you might avoid some of the dead ends I explored. I now have a depth of joy, peace and fulfillment greater than I’ve ever known. Has life been perfect? No! But He has walked through the hard places tangibly by my side.

In my early 40’s, our entire family sensed God drawing us back to His heart in a way we had never      known. Where we had known ABOUT GOD, we now invited Him to be our Lord and Saviour and to   seek out and follow His ways.

Christianity is a faith of absolutes – absolute love, absolute forgiveness and absolute truth. There is NOTHING too big or too bad for Jesus to forgive, if you will bring it humbly before Him and just ask.  You don’t have to wait until you straighten yourself up to come to Jesus! Come just as you are, He’s waiting for you to come home. He wants to give you a brand new start and a brand new, clean heart.

From that position, as you seek His ways by reading the Bible and through prayer (talking to God and listening), clarity and direction will come. Your destiny on earth will become clearer and when it does you will experience greater fulfillment than you’ve ever known. Matthew 6:33 says, ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and ALL these things will be given to you’. The things you’ve been striving so hard to accumulate, to achieve, that have eluded you will be given to you as you seek out and obey God’s principles for living. As we obey the Word, blessings follow. The satisfaction of being in the centre of His perfect will for your life is the place of greatest fulfillment imaginable.

John 3:15 says, ‘For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should have everlasting life (eternal life, life for ever after exiting this earth). It carries a promise that when we die and leave our physical bodies, our spirit ascends into heaven for eternity. No more pain, no more suffering, all disappointments washed away and a joy filled peaceful abiding in Eternity. Now that’s something I look forward to after I’ve fulfilled my purposes on earth. The word ‘believe’, in this instance, means to trust in, have faith in, be fully convinced of, acknowledge, and rely upon. It denotes reliance upon and a personal trust, which produces obedience.

 As we fast approach this Christmas season, I pray we will take time to honor ‘the Reason for the Season’, Jesus Christ. I pray we will look back across our year with a grateful heart for all He has done, including the trials He’s carried us through.

Wishing each and every one of you, those I’ve met and those I’ve yet to meet, a blessed and joyous Christmas and a rich time with loved ones. To those without loved ones this year I pray His comfort surround you.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, be gracious to you and give you peace.