Set Apart

I'm slowly falling behind in my quest to read one book a month. I mean, I'm still on track, but I'm slowing. I'm on book #5 right now - The Resolution for Women. It wasn't on my original list (which is really just a pinterest board - seriously, people, who makes lists anymore?) but my sister in law gave it to me to read and I figured, hey, if she read a book that she's recommending, then it must be good:)

It's beyond good. I'm only in Chapter 3 or on resolution 3 (there are 13) and it has been totally speaking into every area of my life. Tonight I finished Resolution 2 which talks about being Purposefully Feminine and filling the role that God created for you and then I started on Resolution 3 which is all about "Authentically Me" and realizing that you were chosen by God, appointed by Him, and SET APART.

Um. Wow. It speaks to that part of every woman that compares herself to other women - whether physically, emotionally, professionally, personally, or what have you. I think Christian women are the worst at this. I constantly compare myself to other Christian women and think, "Well, if I just had her faith," or "If I had her kind hearted personality," or "If I could speak to people like her." God doesn't desire that of us. He has CHOSEN us, knowing exactly who we are, to be champions of the role that He has placed us in. You are the only one that He chose to fill that special place.

I constantly wonder if my blog is worth writing. I wonder if it really ever effects anyone or grabs anyone's attention - which is stupid because people tell me all the time how much they appreciate it. Yet, I still second guess myself. I read other blogs and think, "Well, maybe if I could write like them." Well, my girl Priscilla Shirer who authors the book I'm reading, smacked me right in the face tonight. She was telling the story of someone who wrote to her basically expressing the same thing I feel all the time about my writing and then she proceeded to tell her this: "some readers will only hear, understand, and accept certain things when they read it in your words, from your perspective, written in your voice." Wow. But then she went on. "We were each created by God to do our part. And if we fail to do it because we don't think it's valuable enough, great loss will be suffered. Someone, somewhere, needs you - in all of your uniqueness - to step up to the plate of your calling. So come take your place."

Okay, Priscilla. Message received. Do you get that? No matter what you've done, where you've been, or how screwed up you think you are - someone, somewhere needs YOU. You were created for a purpose - a purpose that God chose YOU to fill. That's pretty incredible if you ask me. I want to fulfill my purpose. I know of two of them: to be a testimony to young tween and teen girls and show them God's love...and to write. Maybe the two intertwine in a way that I haven't yet figured out.

But I will continue to blog. Perhaps something I say one day will plant a seed and I might just be priveleged enough to see the fruit that grows.

So be encouraged, friends. You were set apart. You have a purpose. And God chose you - to be where you are for His special work.

I leave you with something else from this inspring book:
"Like a coach who methodically considers which runner to put on the track at particular stages of a relay race, God's choice of you for this leg of the marathon was by design.
That's why you're here. In this position.
Facing that project.
Married to that man.
Involved in that friendship.
Dealing with that issue.
Living in that neighborhood.
Spearheading that committee.
Participating in that activity.
Mothering those children.
Living this life.
Not because it has accidentally happened like this but because you have been known and chosen by the one Coach who sees you as uniquely suited, equipped, and capable of carrying out such amazing plans with such intricate precision.
You are the one, my friend.
You. Are. The. One."