To God be the Glory

I think anyone that has known me throughout my life would describe me as driven- goal oriented. I don’t want to say I always chased the next thing, but I rarely found contentment in any accomplishment. If I got promoted to Major in the military, it was always when do I make Lieutenant Colonel and what do I need to do to get there. If I graduate with a Masters, what is the next degree or certification I am going after? If I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, what is the next mountain (just kidding-think I am done climbing mountains for a bit!)

In these last two years, much has changed for me. I can’t tell you the specifics on how the transformation has occurred, but it is a clear transformation. I have felt nudges directing me on paths that I would not have expected. At the same time, I have felt a contentment in where I am unlike any I have ever experienced. I have grown in my faith and relationship with God and in doing so, I have come to trust wherever He leads me. “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever” (1 Peter 4: 10-11, NIV).

I no longer seek the next big thing. I listen to those nudges and I simply obey. I pray daily that God use me as a vessel and for His glory and not my own. This daily prayer has led to contentment and what I believe to be a clarity on where God is pushing me. I know I am meant to write, I know I am meant to speak and continue to spread God’s word through testimony and by being vulnerable.

Humility seems to be my resounding theme these past few days. My husband and I have been talking about ego and pride-we had plenty to spare throughout our military careers. Throughout the Bible, verse after verse reminds us to be humble, to step away from pride. Philippians reminds us to not do anything “out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (Philippians 2:3, NIV). “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18, NIV). The more we seek our own glory, the more we let ego and pride consume us, the further we get from God. Trust me, I have much greater joy in serving God in humility than I ever found in all those achievements in my life.

Today I pray that If you feel that emptiness, or that something is missing or you find you are always seeking, pause and pray to God for His direction and in the quiet, listen, trust, and obey.