Not only are you where you are by His Divine Hand, you are also when you are by His appointment. Think about that. The One who always has been, is today, and will be forever has chosen this place and this time for you to shine like a star in the universe. You didn’t end up here by chance and your appointed days were always intended to be specific to this dispensation of time. I don’t know about you but I find that to be comforting, motivating, and scary all at once. There’s just something so absolutely huge in considering that the One who proclaimed His creation to be very good felt that this point in history would be better if I were here. Ponder it for a moment. The Creator of the universe heart-picked you for the right here and the right now– not because He needed you, but because He WANTED you.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and HE DETERMINED THE TIMES SET FOR THEM AND THE EXACT PLACES WHERE THEY SHOULD LIVE.
Acts 17:24-26 (NIV 1984)
See! Straight from the mouth of God. He put you here and He put you now. The Omniscient God who decided when and where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would set their feet on planet earth made that same decision concerning you. And Sister, I’m declaring to you today based on the authority of His Word that you are every bit as precious to Him as those men were. I know this to be true because your God does not play favorites. He did specific works—huge works, good works— through those imperfect men and He desires to do the same through you.
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in the advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV 1984)
Now you may be throwing arguments at me in your head at this moment that explain to me why, in all of creation, in the entirety of the world timeline, you are the one exception. You are the one God cannot possibly want to do specific, huge, good things through. After all, God raised them up to be men of renown, known as heirs of the promise and the blessed recipients of an unbelievable inheritance. He even allowed them to participate in building a nation. Without a doubt, these things are true. God had big things set aside for those guys.
But an argument always has two sides. So what I’m going to ask you to do is to read through those Acts 17 and Ephesians 2 verses set side by side from the Amplified Bible*.
26 And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes). 10 For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
Acts 17:26 and Ephesians 2:10
With that fresh in your mind, let your heart travel to your work place. Let it drink in the family that visits your home, strangers you welcome with a smile, and the faces of your dearest friends. Now stare into the eyes of your children, linger there and soak them in—woman of God, this is your nation. You are an heiress, fashioned for this very purpose and filled with the Spirit of God, to point those entrusted to you toward the Promised Land. Yes, Beloved, the boundary lines have fallen for you in a pleasant place and a pleasant time. Surely, you have a beautiful inheritance.
Sister, you have been anointed and appointed by God to do things –specific things, huge things, good things! Don’t doubt for a moment that you are here and you are now for a reason. . . And it is good.
*The Amplified Bible utilizes multiple English word equivalents to each key Hebrew and Greek word clarify and amplify meanings that may otherwise have been concealed by the traditional translation method.
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