We attach to people, places, and things, and they attach to us.
But sometimes that natural attaching mechanism backfires and we become so enmeshed that it feels like a kind of bondage.
Almost all of us need more freedom from bondage like that. We are not living at max capacity – something holds us back. For example, our first daughter, Talia, was made to be married. She loves effortlessly. When Joe came along, he brought her greater freedom. She was released to do what she was born to do.
Another daughter, Estie, was born caring for and healing anything broken. As a child, she cared for a regular succession of small animals – many of which ultimately met untimely ends on our farm. When she finished her nursing degree and began caring for people, a part of her was freed to do what it was crafted to do.
In a way you could say that she’d been released. Until she got that degree and first job, she was constrained.
All of us were made to connect to God and to connect others to their Creator. It’s in our bones to do that – to set people free to live as they were created to live. When we do it, we come alive.
Setting someone free – even in a small way – can bring tears to your eyes; tears that wash away your own small concept of yourself and the possibilities before you. You see mirrored in them a process that is divine and that can work for you. It’s a release of sorts.
Few people have experienced the release I’m describing. Perhaps they’ve experienced small scale versions of it, but their soul yearns for more.
All ministry brings with it the freedom to stop worrying about your own small world so that you can focus on tapping God’s power to meet the needs of others. It’s in all of us to minister – it’s a grace. And God gives us grace gifts that equip us to minister. For those who press into the possibility, that can constitute a call.
Where are you in the process? Have you begun to move beyond a focus on your needs? It’s too small a purpose. You were made to be released from the tyranny of self-focus. God wants to release you into ministry. He wants you to discover his call.
Thanks Seth for posting this. It helped me realize AGAIN that what is happening in my life is right where I need to be. As for my personal life things look a little crazy. There are a lot of missing pieces to the puzzle (job, finances, and clear plans) but as I focus on doing God’s business my needs somehow keep getting met. We serve a faithful God. He knows our needs. He knows our hearts. He has a plan and He will not fail. His timing may not be ours, His resources not what we expect, but in all things God will work something out. He will receive all the Glory as we step out in faith, continue to trust and walk in the path He marks out for us each and every day.
AND it’s ok for us to be uncomfortable (ew)!
Thanks for coming to meet us, Pops. Can’t wait to see you back in the States. 🙂
Releasing others to the destiny for which God created them is a sacrificial act and one of the greatest gifts we can give another.
But God reminds: when we free another we don’t lose them.
We can not lose them. Because they were never ours in the first place.
What we do release is ourselves: from human constraints and bounds.
It is in these moments of releasing – that can only come from a wellspring of agape love – that we come close to the Father.
Love,
Judith
I am amazed at how many use the idea of calling to a ministry to lock themselves into joyless bondage in places where they are not wired to thrive. I have struggled with the idea that God calls people into places of authority and then see many tout that calling to stay in power, yet they themselves and others under their leadership are all suffering. Ezekiel 34:2 ” Woe to you shepherds of Israel, you have been feeding yourself, should not shepherds be feeding the flock?” Thanks for the reminder Seth that a call and release into ministry is a call to serve to be sent as a picture of a servant of Jesus into places of God’s choosing. Authority comes through influence and service not position, and power.
Blessings!