This Time...This Generation...This Purpose

I am sitting here having just wrapped up the last session in our six week bible study on The Church of the Small Things.  I am honored to have hosted this study.  I opened it up when I first learned about the study to whomever was interested on Facebook.  I wanted to walk through the study and I wanted to share one of my favorite people, Melanie Shackle, with my friends.  That was it.  I had no expectations.  I simply wanted to spend some time with other women and dive into the truths that I had already found in her book.  

I have had joy-filled Wednesday evenings for a little over two months because of the women that walked into my home and shared their hearts.  My heart is full.  It was such a gift to have so many wise and REAL women sitting in my basement.  Each and every one of them came with open hearts and open minds and shared the parts of them that God gave them that were special and unique to only them.  

Melanie said this evening in the last video for the study, "God is the one that has plans and purposes that we cannot even imagine...He says, 'You know where I want to use you?  With those students that come into your classroom everyday....That's where I want to use you.  That is where your ministry is.  That is exactly where I placed you because I knew you were uniquely designed for this time and this generation and this purpose.  There is this small corner of the world that isn't going to look the way its supposed to look if you are not dialing in to the purposes I have for you there.'" 

This study has been a reminder to me that I should relish in the fact that God put me in my first grade classroom at Woodfill for a reason.  And he blessed me with a home on Rossford Avenue in Fort Thomas for a reason.  Each of the places I find myself throughout my "small" days is exactly where he wants me to be.  He wants me to be faithful in the small things and bring Him glory.  That's what I am doing and as I head to bed I am falling asleep with a renewed sense of worth because the King of the Universe set aside a small corner of the world just for me.  It wouldn't look the way it is supposed to look without me.  I can now say that with confidence.  

Tonight was a good night with women that I now call friends.           

Church of the Small Things

This past week I found out that I get to be apart of Melanie Shankle's new book launch team.  I received an email, immediately jumped onto the 'secret' Facebook group, and then opened the first three chapters of her book titled, "Church of the Small Things" that we were given while we waited for our advanced copy to come in the mail.  The timing could not have been more perfect.  While I've been down in the dumps and dreading July 17th with every single part of my being I was given this small sliver of good news.  Something different.  Something to do with the day.  Something exciting to share with people.  Something to bring a bit of joy.  It was the perfect timing.

When the book came on Thursday, I opened the UPS envelope and pulled out my beautiful new copy of "Church of the Small Things."  I sat down and skimmed over the first three chapters again and then plowed through a few additional chapters.  And of course I already love it all.  I am excited to read this particular book in its entirety because the truth that comes jumping off the page at me is something I desperately need to hear.  The quote below says it all...it gives me a desire to be in the moment and love where I am; bumps, bruises, and all.

"You know what we all do when we think about our Fantasy Someday? We miss the holiness of this moment we live in right now.  There will never be another one like it.  And even if that makes you think, 'THANK GOD, BECAUSE MY LIFE CURRENTLY STINKS', there are still lessons to be learned, character to be built, and stories that will be told about where you are right now.  God takes all of it-the mundane and the ugly, the clean couch and the wine spills, the ordinary and the occasionally extraordinary-and when we allow him to add his grace, his mercy, and his outrageous love, he adds a brushstroke there and some color here and so paints it all into one glorious work of art that only he can achieve through us where we are right in that moment-in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our classrooms, in our communities and world.  No one else can live our story.  So maybe it's time to embrace all that is uniquely ours and realize that is exactly what makes it special."

"That is exactly what makes it special."

Yes.

When I think about my life I think about a lot of little things and of course one big bad thing, but all of it is my story.  I embrace it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  All of it is uniquely mine.  I am thankful for this reminder and I am thankful for the encouragement I am receiving from this book to keep on.

I am sure more updates and quotes from this new book will bring up more thoughts which I will record here.  It is the perfect place to put the positive so I can look back on the bad days and see that there is good, there is encouragement to be found.