“Live the Life God Called You To”

I found myself listening to Keith Green recently…he was singing a song his wife wrote, “Let My Life Be a Prayer”….which is a beautiful song.  However, it was at the end when Keith said this words that I was most touched..

Make it easier for Jesus to come back this next year by living the life he asked you to live so others don’t have to make excuses for why Christians don’t live like He asked you to”

These words have been laying on my heart with great weight these past five years as Ian and I m

ade the hard decision (financially) for me to go back to graduate school to become a mental health counselor. 

Logic and perhaps common sense defied my returning to school at age 49…..on paper, so many things did not really add up if you measure them on human scale.  But, Ian and I chose then and today not to measure things on worldly terms…rather, we chose to walk in faith. 

My motivation for returning to school was perhaps one of the most obedient things I have ever done in my 54 years….I felt called to walk that direction in faith and God carried me through…

I had a sibling say to me this year that he was not certain why I would become a counselor, listening to the problems of others all day.  He further went on to share that others he knew who had walked this direction had come to regret it and felt burnt out very quickly post-graduation and early into their practice.  I confess his words did hurt my feelings for a second.  

But, I knew something this brother did not know….I didn’t go back to school purposeless….I became a mental health counselor because I felt called to do so….and, that has made all the difference.

I didn’t go for financial gain, ego boosting, or the ability to share with the world my new profession because none of those things come with being a therapist…you will likely not become wealthy, you have to remain humble to do your job, and you are bound by confidentiality so that even if you have a “light bulb” moment with your client, no one outside the therapy room can ever know.

I like that about my new profession…..it keeps me on my knees, my ego in check, and my heart tender.

What I had not counted on when I walked across the stage at EKU with my new diploma in hand was the monumental responsibility you have when you work with others at some of the most sacredly challenging times in their lives.

And, it is in that moment that I have to be the Counselor God called me to be…

              The woman God is working on me to be

                             The humble heart God as worked hard to break in me

And I remember Keith’s words…

“Make it easier for Jesus to come back this next year by living the life he asked you to live so others don’t have to make excuses for why Christians don’t live like He asked you to”

All God wants me to do in my daily living, in my role as Wife, Mom, Daughter, friend, and counselor is to live as He called me to…

I am not old to coming to the understanding of God calling us to live such as this….but, I am old coming to the putting to committed practice in my own life living as He calls me to live….

But, I get it now….

Be who God calls you to be….then, live in the way God calls you to live, so that others who see you, who witness your words, your actions, your faith…..see Him

Blessings,

Lesa