Pasture & Kingship - Grace for Mistakes

My first post this year, entitled "2015 in all of it's Glory" was the first post in a while... Actually in almost six months. In the first paragraph of that writing I told you about some "advisement" I received in 2014 to stop writing for a while... In fact, someone e-mailed me with some things they believed God was leading them to share with me, instructions, if you will. In another post from 2014 (I think, I just tried to find which one and I can't remember the name so....) I wrote about being careful with who you allow to speak into your life. I advised you all - and myself - to compare the words of others to the bible and other things we know to have been true that were spoken into our lives, sort of an "in the mouth of two or three witnesses let everything be established." At the time the advice to stop writing for a while was given to me, I was praying about and trying to figure out which direction to take a few things in my life and because of that I decided, though I normally wouldn't just listen and stop writing it couldn't hurt... Even if it wasn't advice coming from God, taking it would only show my willingness to listen to whatever God had to offer.  

Truth is, I've been meaning to write this post for a while and probably shouldn't have left it for so long...  In "2015 in all of it's Glory" I wrote "I spoke with someone I trust and was told I definitely didn't need to pause my writings.." Thinking now about my lack of clarification in the first post regarding this I fear it's left the wrong impression... What was said to me was not all wrong.. Actually, the mix of what I viewed as accuracy and folly was why I needed the second opinion in the first place. If I understood all of the letter I would have just taken it as it came: if I didn't understand any of it or though all of it to be inaccurate I would have ignored it from the beginning.  I was confused about how one message could have been so mixed and still be true at all but I also worried that maybe I just didn't want it to be true. 

I now would like to explain some advice of my own again. In this recent situation I called someone I trust, both to give me instruction and to know me, the real me and be able to tell me if it was just a "the truth hurts" situation... And that was the right step to take. We cannot just ignore anything we hear that pricks our skin, sometimes it is the things we hear that hurt a bit which end up shaping us into a more beautiful person... Sometimes the truth does hurt, it's a breaking process that must take place in order to change the end product and let's be honest here, we all would rather be broken and beautiful over flawed and irrelevant. We all want to be used in some way whether it is to help others; to mend a broken heart through words, art or song; to build a family or a home; in some way we want to be used to change our immediate world and if that is our desire, we must be willing to change ourselves.

Another aspect of this story is the person giving the advice... Should that person never advise again, never speak into the lives of others? Give up on trying to be a guiding light in a world of storms? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Here's the thing, I said it was someone rather new to advisement... Whether new as in the first or second time ever or as in the first or second time in a long time it matters not; speaking wisdom comes like any other skill, not all at once, there will be falls and setbacks in the process... Sometimes you'll make a mistake but none of that means you should stop working and learning and becoming!  The same person I called to ask whether I should heed the advice or not explained to me that just like in any other area of life, it's a learning process and often when someone is starting out or restarting as the case may be, there will be a mixture of accuracy and inaccuracy and THAT'S OKAY, it's normal.

So whether you're giving advice or taking it, just remember don't check your brain at the door. Sometimes we can all be a little mix of right and wrong but just because we say one wrong thing doesn't mean it's all wrong. Most of all I just want the person who gave me the advice and anyone who is trying to develop a ministry or new skill to remember, you will make mistakes, there is a learning curve and that's okay! Keep going, keep reaching and creating and trying! 

Sometimes we think because it's a skill to do with spiritual things or something we do in church that we should just have it conquered the first time or it's not really God trying to use us and that's simply not true, we all need to develop! We can all agree that David was developing his kingship skills in his father's pasture caring for the sheep, I'm sure he made mistakes then, we all know he made mistakes as a king... We also all know that God called David to become king, so if David made mistakes after being called you can't expect to be perfect after you are called. Accept the process of learning and give yourself some grace for mistakes and most of all, keep heading for the kingdom!