I'm finding that in an artistic journey with God, the enemy is all too often ourselves. We paralyze ourselves with fear and doubt, first when it comes to our work and second when it comes to success, instead of celebrating these precious gifts He's given to us to use for His kingdom. Even beyond that, do we celebrate who we are as children of God, let alone with our abilities or identities?
I studied Jeremiah 29:11 amongst other passages and there's the familiar verse of Him with plans to prosper and not to harm us, but the key here is how pro-active we are. After it says He promises to give us a hope and a future, he THEN says, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, delcares the Lord, and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
I have found that I have often had to put aside my ambitions or even what is natural to me to hear what God has in store...how our everyday lifestyles crowd out His still small voice. God speaks to all of us through His Word about aligning our priorities back into His, and sometimes it's unpleasant and convicting. But through it all I find that the Lord really does take such great pleasure in us...He delights in us as His people and only wants us to reach our full potential.
I am in it right now too. Even with resources in place to further success, I have been frustrated at the lack of results or where I want to go, how burdensome it has become to drum up the promotion and leave time to write, most of all feel like I'm making a difference to Him. But I still have faith that He's going to bring His will to pass, it is up to me to obey and listen...
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How often have I thought I was listening and obeying when I was really following my own wishes. This matter of listening requires study of the Word on a daily basis. For example, I have been increasingly struck by the narrow focus that I have versus the multi-focus that God has. Consider the wise woman of Proverbs 31. She manages her home, watches the real estate market, plants a vineyard, and a has a wholesale/retail business. She does not merely furnish her home and her family's wardrobe; she furnishes them artistically and with her own designs. She has relationships with her spouse, children, servants, merchants, and the poor and needy. In all those relationships she is known for her wisdom and kindness, meaning she has a solid walk with the Lord.
That solid walk with the Lord is the starting point from which the wisdom, relationships, fruitful or profitable work, artistry, and skills grow. We tend to get that order backward (or at least I often do!). We work on the relationships, our jobs, our interests, our hobbies and try to work God into them. God says, "Start with Me."
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