His Gentle Pursuit

This past weekend, I attended the She Speaks conference in North Carolina. There were 600 women all in one place worshiping God and learning about speaking, writing, blogging and women’s ministry. The Proverbs 31 Ministries team did an amazing job preparing and hosting the conference.

I could write an entire post about any of the following:

• Attending the fabulous writing courses which re-energized me;
• Meeting tons of women who are passionate about serving Jesus;
• Feeling special because the Proverbs 31 staff members prayed for each of the attendees by name leading up to the conference and made it such a special experience;
• Seeing some familiar faces from Mount Hermon—including my Nash-friend Annie. Annie is the one who told me about the conference and has been such a great inspiration with all of the writing business;
• Meeting a couple of my favorite bloggers in person and acting a little starstruck like a fool! Sophie and Melanie were both so sweet and gracious; it was such a pleasure to meet them after reading their blogs for the past year;
• Learning about exciting new ministries that are planning to serve young women (incourage and She Seeks).

Instead, I want to tell you about Saturday night. After 12 hours of amazing sessions learning more about writing and blogging and ministry, I began to reflect on Jesus’ gentle pursuit of me during the past year. Although I never felt bullied or bossed, he gently tugged my heart into making some really big decisions. He lined up my path with his (much better) one.

I became so full of gratitude as I contemplated the past year . . . how he guided me to quit a job that I hated, pursue dreams I didn’t even know were so deep and real, start a blog, begin to write a book (yikes!), and become the kind of person who cannot settle for living a mediocre life full of busyness and to-do lists.

Most importantly, I am more in love with my Jesus than I was a year ago. I now understand that it’s not about being able to visualize your dreams and do things to make them come true. It’s about taking the first step of faith, learning how be an authentic person, and letting Jesus work out the details. Thank goodness he didn’t let me choose my own path; I would have settled for something far less than the amazing path he chose.

P.S. I feel the need to add something here. This doesn’t just apply to me. Yes, I am special and God is pursuing me. But you are special and God is pursuing you too. He is not going to force you into anything. In my experience, he has been extremely patient and waited a long time for me to turn and seek his purpose. Also, when I made mistakes, he didn’t stand there and judge me like a disapproving father. He stood there filled with compassion because he knew there was a more fulfilling path for me. He doesn’t want us to settle for less than him!