Over the last few months, I’ve had a crisis of faith. Not the kind of crisis where I question the veracity of the Bible or the existence of God or the saving power of Jesus. The Gospel is as true to me as ever, to remove the foundation of it from my life would be akin to removing my very bones. I know the gospel is truth, but lately I find myself questioning my place in it. I’ve asked myself repeatedly, what is my place within this truth? Where am I living out the call of God on my life? Is there a call on my life? The questions hang in the empty space between where I thought I was going, and where my feet are actually planted.
As I’ve asked myself these questions, I’ve felt a distinct silence on God’s part. A quiet that causes me to wonder if he’s actually listening. I feel like the kid in the old IKEA commercial “Mom can I have a cookie, Mom can I have a cookie, Mom can I have a cookie?” Only I want more than a cookie, I want clarity. I want conviction. I want answers.
During this time, I’ve had a number of books come my way, many of them offering this simple, but profound message, “Kimberly, embrace your smallness.” Gah. Really? This does not feel like an answer to me. I was hoping for something a little more star-studded.
My friend, Deidra Riggs wrote a new book (with a star-studded cover!) called Every Little Thing: Making a World of Difference Right Where You Are, and I had the pleasure of underlining the heck out of it, while crying big, fat tears of mutual recognition. So much of Deidra’s story is about learning to follow God into the wilderness, and to stay true to the call God placed on her life, even when that call felt painfully ordinary.
What I mean to say, is that Deidra can relate to every question I’ve ever thrown God’s way, and she answers them with arrows pointing heavenward. She says this,
“The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not need us to make it anything more than it already is. What the gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to do is to be exactly who we are, in the places where we find ourselves, and to be infused with the salty goodness that comes when we surrender our lives and our agendas and our hopes and dreams to the power and the control of the Holy Spirit.”
Deidra puts the gospel where it belongs, and everything else finds a place on the foundation of it. My freedom is found in surrender. In the pages of Every Little Thing, I’m reminded that my job is to be salt and light right where I stand today. I am ordinary. I am small. But the gospel is so much greater, and even in my smallness, God invites me to be a part of his redemptive work right where I my feet are planted.
Maybe you find yourself in a similar place today, wondering if your everyday life makes a real difference. I encourage you to read Every Little Thing to put yourself and your purpose into perspective. Get your copy here.
