Take My.......
This past weekend, my brother-law and I sang one of my favorite songs, Take My Life by Frances Harvergal. Here are the words:
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
A-men
There are a lot of tunes to this song, but my brother in law and I sang this song to the tune written by our friend, Miriam. We must have sang this song three or four times, mainly because I was trying to get a good recording of us singing this song. If you read the words to this song, it has such a depth of meaning. It is asking God to take my life and use it as He pleases--to use it for HIS will and not my own. It is telling me to surrender everything to God so that God can use me in many ways that I can't even imagine.
How hard it is to do this? How hard it is to completely entrust our lives into the hands of our Maker, Redeemer, and Friend? How hard it is to surrender our talents to serve God and serve others? It's mind boggling. So often we look out for our own intention, needs, and wants, that we do not even think about the needs of others or the will of God for our lives. We all are called by God in different ways; but we are all called by God in some same ways as well. We are all called to trust Him that He has the perfect plan for us all and that He will use us as He sees fit even though we don't understand why or how.
As Patrick and I sang this song, I really thought about what the words meant to me. You see, I've been struggling a lot over the past year and a half. It's not just a physical struggle due to my health issues, but it's a struggling trying to see where I "fit in" if that's the word that best describes what I'm trying to say. I have always had a yearning desire to serve others in any way I can. I have a special place in my heart especially for individuals with disabilities or even those with chronic physical problems. I can empathize with them as I know how it is to struggle physically due to health issues or other such things. I've always felt that God has called me to serve others in special ways.
Yet it seems to me that something is always stopping that call. The past two jobs I've had working with people with disabilities has always ended. The job in Harrisonburg didn't work out and the job I had in Charlottesville didn't work out. I often wondered if it was due to my sickness and such that has caused this halt in my job or is it just God's way of telling me "I'm done with you here now.". It's so frustrating having to deal with unemployment, no insurance, etc; but in it all God has seen me through it and has taken care of me through it all.
I recently came across and opportunity to possibly work with children with autism in a new organization located in Richmond that is near the area my sister and her family currently reside. I had decided to go ahead and apply for the Behavioral Counselor position to see what would happen. I knew before I applied that the possibility of moving to Richmond, finding a new place to live, making new friends, finding a good church, was all part of the deal if I were to move there and if it was God's will. No sooner than an hour had past after my faxed resume reached the Senior Director for this organization (Spectrum Transformation Group) that I got a call from him asking if it was okay to do a pre screening interview over the phone. I was astonished and shocked and was glad to do the pre-screening. He was very impressed with my resume and work history and such and told me to be expecting a phone call to set up a formal interview with the company soon. So now...I wait. I wait to see when will my interview come. I began to get so excited about this possible opportunity saying how it has been my long time DREAM to work with children and families suffering from autism. Autism fascinates me and I would love nothing more than to have this job.
Then, while singing this song, I realized that I needed to really entrust everything to God. I needed HIM to take my life and use it as He sees fits, places me wherever He sees fits, employ me where He sees fits, and use me wherever He sees fit. I realized I should not base any decisions or opportunity based on my own will but on the will of my Father. I realized I needed to surrender my will and make it His. This is the way to please my Father in Heaven.
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