Chosen

Chosen. I've been thinking a lot about this word lately. It all started when I saw this necklace several months ago:

I immediately fell in love with it and it began this windfall of thoughts about this word: Chosen.

According to the great philosopher, Noah Webster, chosen means: one who is the object of choice or of divine favor : an elect person.

So this tells me that one unique thing about being chosen is that someone (other than the person being chosen) has to do the choosing. Whoa! That's big to me...HUGE! That means that anytime I am chosen for something, someone else has hand-selected me out of a crowd for that particular appointment and guess who that someone ultimately is? You guessed it!

Ephesians 1:11-12 says: 11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

I can apply this to SO many things!

1. I am chosen by God to be in specific positions.
2. I then choose to be obedient in following through with my callings.
3. All in between God and Me, many people choose to be obedient to God in order for His "divine favor" to be fully realized.

That is a huge responsibility. Basically what this means to me is that I better be stinkin' listening for Christ's voice to tell me what I am chosen to do. Because, what happens if I miss it?! I shudder to think!

Thankfully, though, Christ did choose me (and you). He chose to create us. He chose to give us free will. He chose to give us spiritual gifts. He chose to open our eyes to the gazillion opportunities he gives us every day!

For our family, He choose to allow us to chose to give birth to two amazing children and He chose to allow us to expand our family through adoption. And, he gave us the choice to be obedient. I'm so thankful that He gave us that choice.

For my sister and her husband, He chose to build their family through a different path; to give them the choice to be an amazing part of two children's lives who may never have heard about Jesus. If I've never said it before, allow me to say it now...I am one CRAZY proud big sister!!

For our friends in ministry, He chose to call them and open up doors, and they chose to be obedient (*and patient) to Him no matter how hard or uncertain the future may seem. And, thank you, friends, for showing us what relentless sacrifice looks like!

You see, the fact is, we are all chosen for something; God calls every one of us to further His kingdom and chooses different paths for each of us so that all the ground is covered. Oh, how I pray that I realize the full extent of this calling and see it through to fruition!

Thank you for reading, friends. May God make his choice for you clear and pave the path as you obediently walk it!