Life Verse

The Three Day Quote Challenge is long over but, as I said before, I have so many quotes, both from individuals and Scripture, that I love I’m going to continue writing about them sporadically (at least). 

Today is like to share what I call my “life verse”:

John 6:12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

“Life verse” may not be the best way to describe it but it’s a term I think many can relate to so I’ll use it. Let me explain why this verse is so special to me. 

Several years ago I was wrestling with God over my calling to the ministry. I had a lot of excuses, too, in my “fight” that I tried to use: my disability and chronic pain makes me unreliable at times, I’m not that learned, I have no formal education/training to be a minister, and those were just my starters; I had a lot more. 

During this time I was reading the Gospel of John; I don’t remember now if I was studying or just reading devotionally at the time. When I came to this verse in the the sixth chapter it grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I read it over and over again, by itself, in context with the text, and couldn’t get past it. I searched every cross reference I could find, through commentaries, Bible encyclopedias, and every resource I had or could find to see what I was missing here, why I was so “stuck” on this verse. Nothing helped, shed no light on it. Eventually I tried to just go on and leave it alone – but it literally kept me up at night, knowing there was something there that I wasn’t seeing!

After a few mostly sleepless nights, I returned to this verse and my search for its meaning to me. I prayed fervently for insight from the Holy Spirit, certain He would reveal to me what I needed to see. And He did – after s few more days of searching and petition. 

In a topical Bible I had, that I forgot I even owned, I finally found a hint; this verse was listed under the topic of “God’s Economy”. I remember the feeling I had: a warmth that crept up my back, up my neck, up the back of my head, tingling gently as it went (though I recall it vividly it’s not easy to explain how I felt in words). Then a light went on: This verse was telling my my position in God’s economy! I was sure (and, really, I had been, to be honest, for a while) that God was calling me to a life of ministering His Word to His people. And I announced that call within days afterwards. 

It’s been a little over five years now since I finally accepted God’s call for my life. And many things have happened and changed in that time, trials and triumphs both. I have learned much since then; I have much more to learn. My ministry has changed and is continuing to change; anything that is alive must change, I think, or it will die off. I was scared to death when I began this journey and I still have some anxiety, not knowing what God has planned for me next. Looking at the shifts in my place in His economy over the past few years wows me and makes me eager as I am anxious to know the next step on this journey.  But I trust Him explicitly and know if I follow obediently all will be well. 

It’s still an amazing thing, to me, how the Spirit can use the smallest, almost obscure thing (me and this one verse, for examples) to guide and show someone where they are supposed to be. Of course that person has to be open to His prompting or they’ll not even hear the “still small voice” at all, let alone the call to action.