Use Me For Your Glory

I have asked God to use me, use my life, my story for His glory. I never really knew what it could or would look like, but I knew that He gave me back my life for a reason. I don’t want to waste His reason or what time is left to make a difference for the Kingdom.

My journey to Jesus’s heart began when I was nine years old. I don’t fully recall what the feeling was that made me get out of my seat that particular night and head to the front of our little Baptist church in Muskogee, Oklahoma, but I do recall doing just that. I knew something in me was saying, “Chandra, I want you and you are a part of My family.”. So, as the alter call began, I snuck out of my seat and headed to the front. Brother Lynn, as the parishioners and children affectionately called our pastor, knelt down to ask me some pointed questions about what I believed to be true. The main one I recall is “Do you believe Jesus died for your sins so you could be saved?” and I recall answering, “Yes, I do.”. That was the day my life changed though it took many years to really know what being a child of God was really like.

I ran for years. Not necessarily on purpose, I didn’t really know much about God. I knew that I was afraid of Him and I didn’t think He liked me very much. As a little girl, I didn’t ever feel liked very much in my family, so why would this perfect God like me? The cool thing about God is this, He likes all of us because He thought all of us up and to Him, we are His perfect creation. It has taken a long time and been a long road from that day at the front of that church to this realization in life and God has pursued me all the way! He doesn’t ever give up on us and He loves us too much to leave us in the place we find ourselves today. Each day we have new revelations about His love for us and His purpose in and through us. Our job is to listen and obey.

I got to witness one of my purposes this week when our daughter-in-law to be and our daughter’s boyfriend were both baptized into the our family, the family of God. We are so excited for both of them and we see what God is doing through our story. Gratefully, through technology, there are a lot of options for Bible study. When someone begins dating one of our kids, we invite them to join us in reading our daily family Bible studies. Some haven’t made the cut because they refused to join us and then they were gone. I don’t know that we’re causing that, I think our kids simply want someone who’s following Jesus. That is what Hubby and I have modeled for them so they want it and it blesses our hearts and the heart of Jesus.

When I started my journey to the heart of Jesus, I couldn’t fathom what He would do in and through me. Hubby led me to learn more of the Bible and about God but never pushed me. That made me seek Him with all of my broken, hurting little girl and let Him heal my heart. Today, we are both willingly handing our story to Jesus and asking Him to do all He wants in and through it. The Bible tells us that God will do more than we ask or can imagine (Eph 3:20) and He is doing that with our brokenness and through His healing. I am committed to following Jesus Christ and I pray for everyone who reads this that your eyes be open to how very much He loves you and to His story in your life. I pray that you will share that story because we invite others into the family of God by our testimony. I thank God that He saved me, that He is restoring me, and that He is using my life for His glory.

“God can do anything, you know–far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” Eph 3:20 MSG