This one is for the achievers, to the go getters and goal setters. This one is for you if you have ever dreamed so big it scared you, you have seen the vision the Lord has for your life and then asked, “are you sure God?”. This one is for you, if you have ever felt like you were too much, if you have ever felt bad about knowing the answer or asking the question, sharing your drive or being all God made you to be. This one is for you.

This past weekend I attended a women’s event at my home church here in Rothesay New Brunswick. Harvest is an annual event hosting 700 women for worship and powerful messages from female faith leaders over Friday night and all day Saturday. This was my first time attending. As I worshipped on Friday night I felt really distracted, I kept thinking about myself, some goals I was struggling to achieve and found it difficult to keep my focus on God. Then I felt guilty for my distraction during worship knowing I was there to worship the God of all Gods and here I was worshiping work. Then I started to question my work, I wondered about my goals, were they my own and then I started to pray. I prayed that the Lord provide me with renewed vision for who I was and what He is calling me to do as well as a refreshed vision for the way He sees me.

When I woke Saturday morning I was excited and energized to meet with the Lord and my sisters in Christ and experience what He had prepared for us that day. I left the other stuff with God and focused on who He was the rest of the day. The final message of Saturday left us with some prayer prompts which were right in line with my current struggle.

Monday morning, before opening my Bible I praised and prayed to God that He lead me to scripture that reignites my confidence in Him and the calling He has placed on my life and He lead me to Mark 12. Mark 12 is the Parable Of The Tenants. If you haven’t read this story, I encourage you to give it a read. Here is a quick overview, a man purchased a vineyard, fixed it up and then rented it to a tenant. At harvest, the owner sent a servant to collect the owners share and the tenant beat the owners servant and sent him back empty handed. This happened on repeat more than 5 times until eventually the owner sent his own son to collect the harvest but the tenant killed the son.

As I read this I prayed the Lord reveal to me, what He wanted me to learn from this story.

What God revealed was that I was like the tenant;

Let’s think of the vineyard and the land in the story, like all the gifts and physical possessions the Lord has given me.

All I have, my physical possessions and spiritual gifts, they belong to God and are on lease to me. Anything produced from whats is on lease to me by God, belongs to Him.

If I do nothing with what He has given to me and waste the gifts that have been given to me, I will have nothing to offer back to the Lord.

But if I work with perseverance with all that has been given to me and give back what is produced from that work, the Lord will be glorified. This scripture reading and prayer time gave me so much peace because I often find myself wondering if I am selfish, greedy or wrong for my ambitions. What God revealed to me through this parable was that my passion for work comes from The Holy Spirit within me, to share what has been entrusted to me. The enemy is tempting me with shame which keeps me small and will cause gifts to spoil and go unused.

Success and glory is Gods. It’s also my responsibility to cultivate and care for the gifts I have been entrusted with. Producing a harvest is being a good tenant. I wouldn’t be able to do the work apart from God because without Him, I have nothing and so even in the work, He must be praised.

John 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

If you believe with your heart and mind that Jesus is your saviour, it is through faith that you have been set free. In the past, shame has confused my faith and ambition and made me believe I was working for myself but because of Gods great love and my faith in His love, I know I am working for and with Him.

Romans 5:5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

I needed the reminder that I am not wrong for my dreams. I am not wrong for waking early and excited each day to work away at what the Lord has prepared for me. I am not wrong. I am not perfect either. Sometimes I desire perfection and use the lack of perfection as an excuse to not do some of the things that the Lord is asking me to do. Shame says “you are wrong and everything you are doing is wrong, quit, wipe the slate clean and start over because it’s just too big of a mess to do anything with’. The loving correction or our Lord says, '“hey, let’s work on improving in this area but you are doing great in these other areas and you should definitely keep going.”

It is refining to pursue God sized dreams. God has given you everything you need to do the work. He is in it with you and we will glorify Him as we cultivate what He has given to us.

To all my go getters and goal setters in Christ, be all He made you to be today, it’s not about you, its about Him!

Xoxo

Heather

a grateful tenant of the Lord