I also read about you on the Rebelution blog, and thought “He’s gotta be like 30 or something, he’s so smart” Nope! You’re only a year older than me! Keep up the great work.

Julia from Julia’s Journal

I was just recently reading that Hudson Taylor really desired not fame or success, but that he would be useful wherever God placed him, whatever God gave him. As he traveled for many years throughout China, though, he learned something else. And it’s something I’ve learned recently, as well. Sometimes if we focus on our usefulness, we lose sight of what’s most important. And for me, it’s worse — sick days? I look at my usefulness and… well, I’m just not accomplishing a whole lot that even I could see. Are those days pointless? Not by any means should they be.

Our highest calling, the reason we were created, is to LOVE God — to bring joy to the Heart that was pierced through out of Love for us. Donkeys, as we’ve seen in the Bible, can serve God’s purposes even by speaking what He desires. Flowers and mountains and all the natural world brings Him glory. But why did He create mankind? Why He die on the Cross? To embody His Love in the heart of His Bride — to Love and be Loved by one who would share His thoughts, His joy, His sorrow, His passion; one who would share in His dreams and work as One with Him to bring them about, and alike share with Him their successes and failures (due to the people’s responses to Love offered).

Keep opening your heart to God — open it wide to receive and to give His Love freely. It’s not the success or the glory that decides the greatness of the call, it is the One who calls. And it’s not the size or the usefulness of the gift, but the heart of the giver, that touches our Loving Father’s Heart. He doesn’t look at the outside, He looks at the love behind it all deep down in your heart. Open your heart and eyes anew every day to His Love to you at the Cross — then keep your heart open to love Him BIG in return. Keep your eyes on His Face and watch for His Smile. Thousands smiling over and applauding your greatest ambition accomplished could not compare.

Then — and this is most glorious — the only thought on your mind will not be “I am big” or “I am small” or “I am stuck” or “I am useful,” but rather, “I am Embraced!” Then, and only then, is the greatest good accomplished; for then, and only then, is His Heart most touched with the JOY of being loved by one who belongs solely to Him as His Bride.