Where are you?

Where are you?

On any given day, in any given city, there is no shortage of answers to this question.

"Where am I?" - I am between jobs, I am struggling financially, I am sitting in the hospital with a very sick child, I am being served divorce papers, I am in prison, I am experiencing infertility, I am barely clinging to my faith, I am thinking that God has forgotten about me, I am depressed, I am confused . . .

Most of us have been to some of these places or have watched someone go there. Situations like these seem defining. When we look in the mirror - there we are - in that "place" we never dreamed we'd be. And the worst part? When we arrive at that "place" - always unexpectedly - it's easy to become convinced that we no longer qualify to function in our place in the Body of Christ. We believe the lie that because our situations are not small and insignificant but instead seem to have consumed all of 'life' as we know it, that we - by default - must forfeit walking in our kingdom purpose.

We attempt to grasp at scriptures that say our trials will refine us, and mold us into the image of Jesus, yet when we assess our situation, we feel less like Christ than before we first believed. Then we open up and swallow one of our enemy's favorite lies:

"You are in this "place" because you have failed, and God just can't use you now."

The problem with this lie, the reason it is so easy to swallow is because it is accompanied by tons of stinkin' evidence and facts that are difficult to dispute. In light of this, allow me to offer something that I think God would applaud:

"WHERE you are . . . is not WHO you are!"

Where we are, today, is simply where we are in the journey. And the journey is being micromanaged by the Lover of our soul.

Where was Moses for 40 years? In the desert. Who was Moses for those 40 years? He was Israel's deliverer. (Moses saw a shepherd in the mirror. God still saw a deliverer.)

Where were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? On death row. Who were Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego? God's offering of salvation to an unbelieving King.

Where were the people as Pharoah chased them? Trapped and doomed at the edge of the Red Sea. Who were the people as Pharoah chased them? The nation from whom God's Son would still come.

And what about Joseph? Where was he? In prison - though he was not a criminal. Who was Joseph - while he was in prison? A deliverer . . . in the fullness of time.

God is not a man that He should lie. . . hath He said and shall He not do it? Hath He spoken and shall He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

For I know the plans that I have for you . . . plans for good and NOT destruction; to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11)

I have loved you, with an EVERLASTING love . . . (Jeremiah 31:3)

WHERE you are is not WHO you are. It's simply . . . where you are . . . until God moves.

AND THEN . . .

Whose wayward child will meet Jesus because of you? What broken person will experience wholeness, because of you? What incredible move of God might you be a part of, if you faithfully endure "where" you are - so that He can mold you into "who" you are? Who will be delivered, because of you?

"Where are you?" Someplace great? Maybe not.

"Who are you?" A most beloved Child of the King of Kings! One whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life! An eternal being - bought with a price! More than a conquerer! Delivered, washed, redeemed, forgiven, powerful, anointed, full of peace. Free!

Daughter . . . WHERE YOU ARE is most definitely not WHO YOU ARE.


In Him . . .




Visit Darnelle at her personal blog:
All Things Work Together

(Many thanks to Dan O. for sharing his insights from an HPC staff mtg.)