Accepting the Invitation

Welcome to June. It’s the month of weddings and celebrations. The invitations for these events come in all shapes and sizes. Most invitations provide an indication of what type of event it will be.

Fancy invitations with gold foil writing will probably mean an extravagant wedding. A destination event might have a fun font with different colors to show the playful atmosphere which awaits the guests.

However, there is one invitation that is all about you.

God has an invitation engraved with your name on it.

The table is set, candles are lit, and the enticing aromas of your favorite foods are wafting in from the kitchen to the dining room.

Created all for you.

Waiting for you.

All you need to do is merely accept the great adventure God has waiting for you.

God has more planned out for us than we could ever dream or imagine.

Oh, how often I have sold God short because I don’t believe He will do what is best for me. I think He’s holding out on me.

The lie that God is holding out on us is as old as time. It’s the lie Satan used to steal Eve’s heart from God.

In a way, God is holding out. He’s waiting for me to step out in faith. He has called us all to do something special in His kingdom. He understands our doubts. He understands our fear. He understands our need for reassurance. What He doesn’t want from us is, not me God. Please choose someone else. He has set before us the desire to do something radical for Him. God can only fill that emptiness we feel. The void begins filling by being obedient to Him.

God’s invitation to step out of our comfort zone isn’t easy to accept. There are things I believe God has called me to do which I don’t want to do. I think these requests are beneath me. Then I hear the whisper of God’s voice, “Are you willing to surrender your pride to please me?”

Part of this adventure is to surrender. When we accept the invitation to step into all that God has laid out for our lives, it means we must check our ego at the door and tear up the claim ticket.

We must give everything over to God to live the life He has invited us to live with Him.

We must give everything over to God to live the life He has invited us to live with Him. Share on X

The adventure won’t be straightforward. Sometimes the best adventures are the ones which are the toughest. Growing up, taking vacations were a luxury and not often done in our family. Don’t feel too sorry for me, we had a swimming pool in the backyard, so it was like we were on vacation every day of the summer. This particular summer, my family planned a trip out west. Little did my parents know it would fuel my love of the mountains. The mountains kept calling to me after this trip, and I answered by going to college in Utah, then settling in Colorado in an attempt to be an adult.

On this trip to beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park we rented a motorhome. In my small child perspective, this vehicle was massive. I eagerly packed my belongings in the nooks and crannies allowed me. As we set out, the mountains of the west filling our windshield and the plains of the Midwest in our rearview mirror, we looked forward to the adventure ahead. An adventure it was.

The motorhome broke down in Gillette, Wyoming. Not precisely the spectacular venue we were hoping for on the trip. For three days, the motorhome sat in a mechanics garage while we spent our time reading or wandering the streets of Gillette. The wandering didn’t take long, so we mostly plowed through the pile of books we brought allow for the long hours on the road.

While this wasn’t the adventure we had planned and I’m sure my siblings and myself complained more than once about being bored, it was this detour which provided the best stories from the trip. We laugh about it now, but at the time, it was uncomfortable, stressful, and not the fun time we had anticipated. However, we still talk about it at family gatherings with fondness and laughter.

The adventure God takes us on is sometimes the same way. He needs us to grow closer to Him before the fun stuff starts. We need to become the light to lead others behind us on the path we’ve already taken.

In 2 Corinthians 2:14, it says, “But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.”

We are to lead others along our adventure. The adventure could be a cautionary tale, or it could be an inspirational triumph. Either way, we are to share the Good News which God has called us to share.

Have you accepted the invitation for an adventure from God? Why or why not? Share it in the comments below to help others.

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