Do I Have to Beg God for Purpose and Good Work to Do?
On September 14, 2021 by Amy BurginReading Time: 3 minutesIf you’re anything like me, you long for purpose and good work to do. Your heart aches to work alongside God and to make an impact on his kingdom. Maybe you’ve prayed and begged God over and over again, “Lord, please give me good work to do.”
Several years ago, I went through a season when I begged God and prayed that prayer day after day. At the same time, I was memorizing Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Oddly, I didn’t see the connection between the verse and the prayer.
The prayer flowed from one compartment of my brain, and memorization worked in another, until one day, as I prayed the same old prayer, “Lord PULEEEEEZE give me good work to do,” he answered clearly and kindly. “Have you been listening to the verse you’ve been memorizing? What does it say?”
“OH, MY WORD!!! It says I am made in Christ Jesus TO DO GOOD WORKS WHICH YOU PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR ME TO DO!”
Oh, friend! We don’t have to beg God for good work to do! He has already prepared good work specifically for us to do!
I see a little girl in my mind’s eye. I’m a lot like her, and maybe you are too.
***
Every night, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl took her prettiest papers and best pens from the drawer in the cabinet and sat down at the kitchen table. She sat tall in her seat like a scholar with her best posture. She held her pen precisely how her momma taught her and wrote in the prettiest cursive she could create. She wrote the same thing every night, a letter to her daddy.
“Dear Daddy, I want to ride horses with you. May we please go horseback riding together?”
Each night, her father stood at the back door near the kitchen table, “Daughter,” he called kindly night after night, “My daughter, come see what I have for you.”
Every night she answered without looking up, “Just a minute, dad! I’m writing you a letter because I want to ride horses with you so much! You will understand when you read it, and I’m going to write it ONE HUNDRED TIMES, Daddy.”
She continued to write, and every so often, she stopped and shook her achy hand, but she never looked up.”
He waited at the backdoor, smiling upon her and contemplating her beauty. Oh, how he loved her! After one hundred sentences, he called to her again, “My daughter,” but before he could speak further, she answered, “Oh Daddy, I just REALLY want to ride horses with you. It’s so important to me, and I know you’ll understand if I write it ONE THOUSAND TIMES. She continued to write, never looking up and again shaking her hand more and more often as her fingers ached from the writing, until, finally, she stopped out of sheer exhaustion on line five hundred eighty-five to take a deep breath.
In that little moment of silence, in the pause between sentences, her father drew closer and spoke, “Daughter,” this time, she felt the wind in his voice and looked up to listen. Her gaze captured his heart in new ways, and he smiled with every fiber of his being.
“Daughter, before you were born, I planned a trip for you and me. We will ride horses together across the fields, over the mountains, and all the way to the ocean. I have planned every detail, prepared our saddles, and packed our supplies. I am so excited and have been waiting for this time for so long. Ready to go?”
Featured Photo by Clint McKoy on Unsplash
Oh, how I can relate to that! Especially as I began to launch my children! What can be more purposeful that the work of a homemaker and a mom? And once those little birdies are flying what is my purpose? Ephesians 2:10 has been hope for me as I make this transition in life. I’m done sitting at the table now, I’m definitely ready for the ride!
Yes! What CAN be more purposeful than the work of a homemaker and a mom? And YES! What after those precious birdies fly? Amen and amen! Let’s go – we were created for this!