Dry Bones. That’s been on my mind lately. It’s how I’ve been feeling for the past few months. I feel like I’m on this merry-go-round of normality (a term Pastor Joby uses often). I think we often get on this ride of wake up, be a mom, go to work, come home, make dinner, clean, go to sleep and then repeat all over again. And we are left thinking, is this it? There has to be more. 

I feel like for the first time in my life, about a year ago, I felt like I discovered God’s unique calling on my life, and I’d never felt more alive in my entire life. Then, over time, so gradually I barely even noticed, I let the world drown it out. “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” and all of that. I got busy.

I got busy being a mom and taking care of our home. I went back to work and even took on more clients. I got busy with work, and work is an idol for me. It’s an empty place I tend to find my worth, and I dove right in. So, now that I have dry bones and I’m desperate to hear from Him again, I am left with needing something to change. Do I continue down this road of busyness and empty pursuits or do I live out this God-sized dream that requires complete dependence upon Him to accomplish? I’m in a place of uncertainty. What is the next step for my life, will we try for another baby even though it’s hard and brings up a lot of emotion, will I take some things off of my plate so that I can be more obedient to where God is calling me? It’s always in these times of waiting, or times we are desperate to hear from God that He meets us where we are. God meets us in desperate places. Isn’t that always the case? It’s only when we have no control over a situation, we are longing for something we don’t have – that next job, a spouse, a child, an answered prayer, that we are on our knees dependent on the One who controls the universe and yet knows our name. It’s often in those moments where despite our longing, we feel more alive than ever because we are actually in the presence of the Lord in full dependence, which is where we belong. A friend of mine from college and I used to say, “Isn’t it sad that we never NEED God, until we NEED God?” At the end of the day, every longing on our heart is actually a longing to be near to Him, our Heavenly Father. And this world, it’s busyness and demands can’t drown out that longing in us, so we’ll continue on the merry-go-round of normality trying to fill it with other things.

It’s easy to seek our worth in other areas and come up with dry bones. It’s easy to find our worth in being a good worker, an expert at something, a mother, a wife, whatever it is that’s your thing. We try and seek fulfillment in these titles we give ourselves and come up empty, dry. 

So here are two things I want you to know (and tell myself in the process):

One – God never went anywhere even if you feel dry or distant. His love for you and faithfulness do not depend on your performance, thank you God! He meets us right where we are, so don’t start making a list of how to strive towards being more Alive in Him, because that’s not the point, pouring more busyness on our dry bones. He wants to meet you there and give you rest and joy from the striving. He wants you to feel ALIVE in this life. 

Two – God has a unique, God-sized calling on your life, even though you may feel unseen or insignificant. 

I’ve gone from the mundane to the magnificent. I’ve gone from pursing the fruitless passions of this world, even attaining some of them and ended up even emptier, to feeling true purpose! And once you experienced even a taste of that God-sized calling, or true dependence, you can’t go back without recognizing the dry bones in comparison. 

Don’t we all want to live with purpose? I heard once that a calling is where our burdens and talents collide. For me, I have a burden to see women come alive, to have a voice, to know they are valuable, fierce and loved. I have a desire for every woman to be set free in Him, and live out God’s unique calling on their lives. So, my talent (or experience) is in marketing or writing, but more than that God gave me a personality that hates small talk. Like, I hate it. I love to get down to it and be real, and I also love to encourage, inspire and build others up, so there in meets my calling! 

So for you, what burdens your heart? What makes you come alive? Is it raising your kids? Is it hosting people in your home? Is it taking care of others? And then what are you good at? What have people affirmed in you? And also just takes some time to ask God, what’s my purpose? Take some time out of your busyness and find out what God really has for you. I promise once you experience it you won’t be able to go back to the mundane. 

“If your dreams aren’t big enough that they require you to depend on God to make them happen then you aren’t dreaming big enough.”

This is one of my favorite quotes because any GREAT thing in your life should be so big a stretch that it causes you to depend on God alone to accomplish it. You aren’t just a stay-at-home mom doing laundry on a Tuesday. You aren’t just an accountant crunching numbers and going home to make dinner for your family. You aren’t just a woman created to wake up, work out, go to work, and go to sleep, all to get up a repeat it again. You were made for so much more, and I want you to find that purpose, that calling in this life, and ultimately be dependent on the only One who can truly fulfill us, who can come alive these dry bones. It will change everything. Help hold me accountable to not let the world drown it out too. We need each other.