Homesick With a Purpose

"...Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah." 1 Samuel 16:13

After my freshman year of college, I recall sitting with my mom on our back porch, lamenting on how homesick I was! As we spent the cool morning chatting, memories flooded my mind of all the events that had taken place in that very spot. So many family parties lit by candle light into the dark hours, slumber parties on mattresses in the screened in porch, graduation and birthday parties, cookouts with friends, and the list goes on and on. My heart ached. I just wanted to stay home where things were familiar and comfortable. Being away seemed so pointless and meaningless. But I clearly remember the wise words of my mom and it replays vividly in my mind even to this day. She simply said, "Maybe God is preparing you for the future."

It was about four years later that my husband and I moved back to Louisville after living our first year of marriage only an hour away from home. Remembering that single day with my mom, I giggled to myself and sighed a sigh of relief as I recalled her words. I came to the wrongful conclusion that God wasn't preparing me! I was home with my husband and we had plans to raise our family in Louisville!

As I write this post 9 years later, those homesick feelings overwhelm me once again as I sit in my home 2000 miles away from "my old Kentucky home". I realize that my mom was right. God was preparing me! And now my eyes have been opened to see just how He took those years of college to prepare me for this very time in my life. But it also leads me to wonder what He might be doing today to prepare me once again for His plans for beyond the here and now.

I always wonder how David felt after he was anointed by Samuel. First Samuel 16:13 strikes me as a bit funny when it says, "Then Samuel returned to Ramah." That's it? What in the world just happened? David was anointed king, the priest left and he returned to the sheep in the fields. I often wonder what he would have been thinking as he came up on the hill to his lowly job of shepherding. Did it all seem so meaningless? I wonder if he, too, giggled at the idea of plans for him to be king in the future. Not only did he continue his job as a shepherd but then became a servant to the king...a servant! Not his top advisor or right hand man but a servant! Of course, as we read on, it's obvious to us that God was using that time to prepare him for his kingship. And I'm sure David looked back on his life and saw, too, the time of preparation.

But in the midst of our current situations, it's hard to see the purpose. Things may seem meaningless, small or pointless. But as we learn from David, God is preparing us, too! How exciting it is to come to that realization. And what peace it brings knowing it's all part of God's plan. But the most exciting part to me is that, in the end, God is always glorified!!

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:10) What an honor to have God look at us and anoint us for His purposes. We may not be king but we can rest assure whatever it is, it's all part of his plan!