Defining Moments

I sat in a room filled with ministry leaders. The speaker shared a concept I’ve been thinking about ever since the words left her lips. There are defining moments. There are desperate moments. And sometimes these two meet and mark our lives forever.

I sat in a room filled with ministry leaders. The speaker shared a concept I’ve been thinking about ever since the words left her lips. There are defining moments. There are desperate moments. And sometimes these two meet and mark our lives forever.

As I think about my own defining moments of desperation—those times when we say, “I will do anything to have…,” or, “I will do anything to avoid…”—I’m taken back to one event that changed the course of my family and ministry. * In March I stepped down from my position at our church to pursue writing. My choice was peppered by a thousand factors. I desperately wanted to write but couldn’t find the time in my current schedule. And I was desperately tired. So I determined that I would do anything to pursue that dream and avoid the spiritual exhaustion nagging at my soul.   

The ensuing months have been filled with a thousand questions about God’s plan, my purpose, and our family’s priorities. I wish my choice was now neatly tied up. I long for a resolution to the questions and searching and waiting. But amidst the journey, I’ve found something far richer than a new career, healthy schedule, or spiritual antidote.

Slowly those things are coming too. But more than anything, I’m learning to view life through God’s sovereign lens. Amidst my searching and sorting, I stumbled into Ecclesiastes. This small book swirls and spirals as Solomon asks, “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3). He brings us to the brink of hopelessness as he searches for fulfillment in wisdom and wealth, pleasure and power, integrity and insight. These things are beneficial, but they can never satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.

So what do we gain from our life’s work? Perhaps the answer is found in one simple, overused word—enjoyment. Solomon calls us to accept our lot from God by eating, drinking, and finding enjoyment in our toil (Ecclesiastes 2:24). It’s the only right response for the woman who fears God.

When was the last time I really soaked up my day? I spend so much time searching, asking, working that I forget about our sovereign God. The reason that I can enjoy life, take a Sabbath, write about it, and bask in it is because God gives us these things and then grants us the grace to enjoy them. He has this perfectly ordered plan that we can’t figure out. So we might as well stop trying and just trust him. Only then can we enjoy the position he has given us in life.

I thought my defining moment of desperation was about a career change and healthy life rhythms. It was about these things. But beneath them all, it was really about faith. Opening my hands, entrusting my life’s work to God, and enjoying the blessings he brings into my life. Will you join me?

*Taken from a talk by Julie Pierce (www.empoweredbypierce.com).