Do we dare be different...for the calling of our Lord?

Do we dare be different...for the calling of our Lord?
Patricia Ann

I remember vividly certain times of my life, certain days that are what I believe to be times when God was pleased at my acknowledgment of Him.  As I know in my heart that God has truly known me eternally, He did indeed knit me together in my mother's womb and He placed within my forming body a beating heart that He foreknew would one day beat for Him and for the purpose of glorifying His name.
I was blessed to have a mother who loved Jesus.  She taught Sunday school and Bible school and read Bible stories to us.  I remember being too young to read, but I was right there with a listening ear, as my mother taught us (my brother sister and me) about Jesus. 
This is a blessed memory that I have about my childhood, as well as being in church on Sunday morning and evening for worship services.  I must have been able to feel God in those old time gospel songs, as the congregation filled the pews singing in unison, praises to our Father in Heaven.  I can still remember the sound of my Grandmother's voice singing with a sort of whine and drawl that wasn't necessarily thought to be a good voice, but was most importantly to God - His daughter singing in love and joy to Who He was to her.  It was beautiful to my ears, as was my mother's voice.  She sang in lovely alto and the harmony between everyone singing was undoubtedly glorifying to God.  
I am sure that few people ever noticed that I was in awe of the sounds of their voices singing those praise songs or that I could feel the presence of God in that little church, but I did. I loved Jesus and I loved that little stick built church full of family and friends. 
I was saved at a revival in that church at 8 years old and baptized in the cold Illinois river. The month was March and I believe there may have been ice floating it the water, too. There we were, my bother and sister and I along with others who went forward to accept Jesus as their Savior.  One by one we were baptized in the freshness of that cold crisp air and the icy cold water, living water.  
I remember gasping for air as I was raised up, perhaps not just because it was cold but because I truly was saved, filled with a knowledge of Jesus in my heart that has never gone away and only grown in the years passed.
I remember hearing later that some people had assumptions that I just went forward during that revival because my siblings did.  All I have to say about that is that only our Father in Heaven knows who truly seeks Him.  He knows our heart and it is His indwelling in us that shines out like a light into the darkness of the world.  Without His heart and His love alive inside of us, we are nothing.  I always knew deep inside that I was nothing apart from my Lord. 
What a blessing it was to experience my Lord and Savior at such a young age and to be raised going to a small church filled with family.
There was my family, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, as well as other families that attended the church.  It was all family and oh, how I loved that sense of family. 
I don't remember family squabbles or hatred between brothers and sisters.  I just remember the love and fellowship.  Maybe God sheltered me from the bad, or maybe my focus was stayed on Him.
 
Fast forward many years.  I haven't been to that little church where I grew up... where I was saved.  And I expect most of the people who attended are either passed on, moved on to other churches or even stopped attending church.  
My life didn't turn out like I dreamed it would as a little girl looking to my future with a happily ever after ending.  It has indeed been filled with trials and circumstances that I never dreamed would happen to me or anyone else. God tells us that because of His name, we will suffer trials in our lives.
There are many scriptural truths about the sufferings we will face in God's word, The Bible.
In 1 Peter 4:12-19, we are told: 
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord run to and for throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him....

My question for today is, "Do we dare be different... for the calling of our Lord?"
Are we willing to give up who we think we are in this world to know who we are in Him?
Do you have a heart so perfected in Christ that when His eyes run to and for throughout the whole earth, will He

find your heart?
Will He find you doing His work, sharing His love, walking as a light, a beacon of His glory that shines out of you... out of your inner most being because it is not you who lives but He who lives in you?
Do you dare be different in a world that rejects the calling of our Lord, for the calling of our Lord?
My prayer for today is that we know in our hearts that God has truly known us eternally. May we know that He did indeed knit us together in our mother's womb and He placed within our forming body... a beating heart, that He foreknew would one day beat for Him and for the purpose of glorifying His name.

We, as followers of Christ, who have truly given our hearts to Him, will follow Him with in inward knowledge that He is in the midst of every trial and fiery dart that is hurled at us in word and deed.  We know that as Jesus went to the cross at Calvary, it was for us, for every temptation, every sin, every sickness, every evil torturous act, every pain and grief that that the enemy of our God would throw at us. 

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not...Isaiah 53:3
Jesus  is our Lord and our Savior!

Praise God from whom ALL Blessings come. 
Love and Blessings to all in Jesus precious name.
Amen