“God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.”—Ephesians 2:10 (GW)
God was very intentional on who He created you to be. He made each of us for His glory not our own. We are no mistake. He created us on purpose for His purpose. Last week I shared how I can look back on my life to see how He was preparing me for where I am today.
Growing up, my favorite class was English. I loved writing. Once in college, I preferred writing essays for tests over multiple choice. It was much easier for me to communicate that I knew the material. I am an overthinker so multiple choice was stressful for me.
Speaking of college, I changed my major 4 times! I started out as “business.” I found out the basic math class you had to take through the business school, was harder, so I went to “undecided.” I loved my basic psychology class, and my 3rd semester declared that as my major. Math is not my strong suit, so I took the minimum needed in high school to get into college. Not a problem if you score high enough on the math portion of your SAT or ACT.
Being in the top 1/4 of my high school class, I had automatic acceptance where I chose to go to college. Because of this, I didn’t study for either test. I didn’t realize that the college would look at certain scores to determine what classes I would need to take.
I scored so low on the math portions of my tests, I would need two math courses to graduate. After many tears and my 3rd time of dropping the class that I needed to pass to get into the one I would get credit for, I pulled out the college catalog to see if there were any college majors that didn’t require a math credit.
I know….pretty pathetic, however I see God’s hand in it all now. The only major was the school of communications. I could take two science classes to replace the one math class. Astronomy was considered a science class! If I wanted to graduate from college, this had to be my major. I needed to narrow my focus to either Journalism/Broadcasting or Speech Communications. Even though I like to write, I looked through the journalism classes and wasn’t drawn to any of them.
Besides math, my LEAST favorite class in high school was public speaking. I thought it was a class that I wouldn’t ever need in life. Speech Communications pretty much was public speaking. Obviously, not a major I would have initially gravitated toward. I ended up loving it and thriving. Had God not closed every door, I would have never gone that route. Not only did just about every class have you do presentations, I also found I enjoyed writing speeches.
I liked my major so much, I went on to graduate school for it. Graduate assistants oversaw one or two lab classes where I coached and graded their speeches. I even went on to teach public speaking at the junior college level after graduation. While on my own accord, I would have never chosen my college major, God led me to it and has used it to glorify Him.
After my first husband’s death, I started a support group called Widowed and Young. Initially, I had different speakers each week. When the Widowed Person Services president, told me it was time for me to lead and facilitate the support group sessions, I saw how God’s hand had equipped me to be able to do it.
My college major has also enabled me to not have a problem getting before a group of people to share my testimony. Being in front of the video camera doesn’t bother me either. It amazes me to see how God created me on purpose for His purpose. Can you reflect on your life and see God’s faithful hand? How did He prepare you for such a time as now?
God changes hearts. He never gives up on us. He will complete the good works He has started in us. He created you to be exactly who you are. Do you believe that?
Father God,
Forgive me when I don’t see Your hand in my life. Only You can lead someone to an unlikely college major, job or volunteer position that utilizes how You created them to use their gifts for Kingdom work. I know You have created each and every one of us on purpose for a purpose. I lift those up to You who have lack of direction. Open their eyes to where they can serve You this week. I pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.
May Verse
I have chosen Proverbs 17:22 as my verse for the month as a reminder to find the joy in all things.
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”—Proverbs 17:22
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