"You'll Go Down In HIStory"

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV)

Ephesians 3:20-21 is a doxology, verses of praise, adoration and affirmation as to who Jesus is. It proves that our divine purpose, our immeasurably more, has absolutely nothing to do with who we are in our finite human flesh, but it's all about who He is in His glorious, infinite power which lives in us and works through us, through the Holy Spirit.

That's a mouth full, but it's true!

We have been intricately crafted by the Master Creator to be and do immeasurably more - to go down in HIStory.

Remember the last line from the popular children's Christmas song, Rudolph, the Red Nose Reindeer? Sing it with me. "You'll go down in hi-sto-ry."

This may sound crazy, but this song lyric got me thinking about how our stories are really brief chapters in the telling of God's grand story of redemption. So, I used this idea to kick-off the HABC Women's retreat weekend in Charleston, SC.  I used what I called The Red Nose Navigation Technique to help them grasp their immeasurably more in HIStory.

Here's how it worked:

I challenged each lady as we watched the famous children's animated movie to answer some questions specifically designed to navigate through the life of a fictional reindeer character with a very special gift. Through this fun-filled evening (and yes, we wore Christmas PJs for Friday evening's session) we learned how to navigate and discover Rudolph's ultimate purpose, his immeasurably more...

- to save Christmas using his gift, to meet the needs of the misfit toys by finding them homes, and modeling forgiveness and showing kindness to those who had mistreated him. Rudolph's difficult circumstances led him to discover his purpose. He went down in history because he unwrapped and used his special gifting for the ultimate good of others.

Saturday's session was getting down to business and digging into the Word of God, but using the same navigation technique from the night before. We asked the same probing questions to navigate through the life of Joseph in Genesis 37-45, unwrapping his special gift of dream interpretation which eventually, through difficult circumstances, helped him discover his ultimate purpose, his immeasurably more...

- to save the world, including his family, from starvation, forgiving those who had mistreated him, and using his gifts for the ultimate good of others. We saw how through his faith and obedience to God he was placed in positions of leadership. Joseph knew that the difficult circumstances he found himself in were how God worked out Joseph's immeasurably more in HIStory. The parallels were amazing and it was such a fun way to help the ladies uncover layers of Scripture. Lots of "Ah-ha" moments!

The final session on Sunday morning was the unwrapping of our own stories and sharing them with each other. Using the Red Nose Navigation Technique, we asked ourselves the same navigation questions and traced God's hand through our own personal journeys so far. Many shared their difficult circumstances and began to see how God is orchestrating them for their good and His glory.

Specifically designed by God (Psalm 139), each of us has been gifted with talents that only we can use in our sphere of influence in this time in HIStory. As we unwrap our talents and spiritual gifts, we begin to see how obedience and faith are the key ingredients to impacting our generation for God's glory now and into eternity.

• Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is the qualifier that puts us in HIStory.

• Obedience is action that proves our faith to the world. 

Jesus is the Author of our salvation and the Finisher of our faith. He knows our life stories from beginning to end. He compels us to move forward through our salvation journeys, trusting Him even when we can't see what's up ahead - in the difficult trials of life. It's like flying an airplane into complete darkness, or a thick fog. As Joeli Mulligan so beautifully described through her drama, our vision is hindered by circumstances out of our control. The only way to come through the dark places is to trust the voice in our ear from the tower - the one who sees the whole picture, and rely on the instruments to guide us to safety.

The voice in the believer's ear is the Holy Spirit and our instrument is His Word that gives us valuable information in directing our course. God sees the bigger picture and we must trust Him to bring us through.

As our faith grows stronger and we take more and more steps of obedience, we will overflow with His immeasurably more, radiating His glory to all around us.

Happy Navigating!

My Pleasure,
Melanie