You're on God's Mission!

Have you ever felt like "where you are" is a place where you are being hurt, undermined, not appreciated, and generally not treated in the way you want to be treated (or deserve to be treated)?

I have been feeling like that a lot lately!  I have been having loads of pity parties feeling sorry for myself.  I have become very resentful and negative.  I just really have not "appreciated" where I am!  Kinda self-centred right?!

The thing though is that when you get to this point you do not see the shine in anything.  You "feel" everybody is just taking what the want from you and not giving any "sugar" back!  It "feels" like a one-way street in everybody else's direction and not yours.

Then I read this....

Thank you @rachel7remnant for your words!

And then it hit me, like a ton of bricks.  This statement above put into perspective "where I am" and "why I am where I am".

• I am "where I am" because God has placed me in this mission field for His good purposes to be a witness and a help and encouragement.  I have been placed "where I am" for God's service!
• The "why" is for whatever purpose God has for me to do!  For example, if my husband feels rejected by his family, God has placed me "where I am" to show him complete acceptance of who he is, and to show him love and ultimately maybe God is teaching him through my obedience to His will, that not all those who are closest to him, will reject him... 

This statement above has done a few things for me:

1. It has given me instant perspective!  This is a mission field and the Lord has placed me "where I am" for His purposes
2. Its not about "me"!  Its not about what others can do for me, how others treat me!  No, its about what I can do for others, about how I treat others, so that "where I am" can further the Lord's purposes here on earth.
3. Instead of feeling "shame, woe is me," I feel empowered, I feel renewed, I feel as though I am part of God's army!  I am a soldier for Christ and my mission, my battlefield, is exactly "where I am."
4. I have a resurgence of joy.  I feel it bubbling up inside of me, and it has melted away all the resentment built up over time.  I finally have figured out that though I may not be a pastor, or a missionary, or biblical scholar, I am a foot-soldier on the Lord's business, in the mission field He has placed me in, my "where I am".
5. And peace.  I feel such peace already.  

Now, when I read 1 Corinth 13 vs 4 - 8(a):  (4) Love is patient and kind;  love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant (5) or rude.  It does not insist on its own way;  it is not irritable or resentful;  (6) it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (7) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  (8) Love never ends....   I see these words as tools, as weapons of spiritual warfare, and not self-denial.  I now see them as gifts from the Lord to do as He would have me do, "where I am".

I now understand what it means to "take back your authority in Christ."  My perspective has changed from being inward and self-focused, to being excited to go about God's work in the mission field He has placed me in and all those things that previously brought me down and hurt me, I can rebuke them for what they are, the devil's mind-games, with the authority given to me through Christ Jesus.

I hope I have encouraged you today to look at "where you are" and realise you are not there only for refining and painful growth, but you are also "where you are" as a soldier for Christ in the battle for the souls of His people.

God bless

Tracy