Yesterday I shared with you how my life purpose came to me. It came only after I realized, on that camping trip of prayer and fasting, that God really didn’t need my accumulated education, skills or experiences. He only wanted me, specifically my love for Him.

Here is the rest of that story.

The very next day, one of my Wheaton professors told me about a job opportunity that seemed tailor-made for me and all of my seemingly unrelated life experiences. It was a position in service to the poor with a consortium of relief and development agencies in Haiti. And, you guessed it, Compassion was part of that group of agencies.

That was 35 years ago. Decades have passed, and I’ve never once regretted my decision to dedicate my life to the mission of Compassion. God has blessed this organization greatly over the years. He has blessed me, too.

But every once in a while I stop and realize that nothing has really changed. He still doesn’t need me to lead Compassion in order to bless the poor. He can do that all by Himself. He still wants only my love.

I’ve made it a habit to pause daily and ask myself,

“Do I really love Him today?”

I encourage all of us in this Compassion family do the same. Had I not discovered that truth — that what He wants from me is my love — I am convinced I never would have found my life’s purpose.

If you will love God with your whole heart and trust fully in Him, He will direct you. He wants to use your gifts and experiences to accomplish His perfect plan for your life. Where will loving God lead you?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. — Proverbs 3:5–6 (NIV)

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You that we can trust You with our lives. Thank You that when we commit to put Your kingdom first, all these other things, including our path in life, are added to us. May we live lives pleasing to You today.

Read all the One in Spirit devotionals.

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What would have to happen in your life for you to think of yourself as someone who is truly and genuinely blessed?

What will it take for you to feel like God is smothering you with kindness today?

I want to laugh. If I could have a rolling on the floor, unable to breathe, can’t stop crying, deep belly laugh, I’d feel blessed.

Do you have an “if list” or a “God to-do list”? Something with a deliverable like mine or something that covers your health, job, finances, relationships, struggles or emotions? Something that’s 9/11 related or something that requires God to come through for you?

I’d be surprised if you don’t. But that’s not the way you should be thinking. God has already blessed you.

If you’ve trusted Christ there is no one who is more blessed by God than you. And that blessing is for all time. Even if you don’t feel it.

Feeling blessed is a relative thing. When we focus on what we don’t have it’s difficult to feel blessed. But you have been blessed.

You are being blessed right now, and you will be blessed as you follow God.

Live your life from this position. Don’t focus your mind, time and energy on, “I hope God blesses me.” That’s an approach that will produce unwelcome results in your spiritual life.

In your walk with God, it makes a huge difference when you view yourself as already blessed. It makes a huge difference when you view your future blessings as a sure thing.

If we view ourselves as “blessed with every spiritual blessing” our spiritual life. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and ultimately, it’s not about God convincing us, it’s about us choosing to believe Him.

Ultimately, it comes down to whom we’re willing to believe.

• God. Who says,
  

  I’ve given you everything you need. You are blessed. Walk with and follow me. You will not regret it.

• Our world. Which says,
  

  That’s not enough. What you really need is this thing. When you get that, you’ll be happy and know He loves you.

Every day, whether it’s 9/11 or not, we wake up and have to decide who to believe. God or the world.

What will it take for you to feel blessed today?

Special thanks to Jonathan Cleveland, the Discipleship Pastor at Pulpit Rock Church in Colorado Springs, who also contributed to this post.

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“Dear God, why me?”

I admit I’ve prayed that prayer many times in my life: on my knees, sobbing, as a 7-year-old while my father’s body lay in the next room; quietly in my new room at the orphanage where the remainder of my childhood would be spent; silently at the back of a church gathering as I struggled through the end of a career.

And I prayed it again last week, as I stood in the middle of a slum outside of Recife, Brazil.

I watched as two young boys skipped across the tremendous pile of garbage that surrounds their shanty home. I marveled as they meandered through unmentionable filth and stench. I marveled because they were smiling the whole time.

“Dear God, why me?” I whispered.

This time, my question came from a different perspective. This time it wasn’t, “Why have You allowed this tragedy to fall on me?” But rather, “Why have You allowed such blessing to fall upon me?”

“Why was I born in a country that afforded me many more opportunities than this family? Why do I get to sleep in a warm bed at night while they sleep on the cold, hard ground of their tin shack?”

“Why do I get to step out onto my lawn without fear of rusted hypodermic needles, shards of glass, and broken tin cans among other filth?”

“Why me, God? Why did You give me so much and them so little?”

Of course I know the answer. I know that I have been blessed for a reason: to be a blessing.

Yes, that may sound trite but it’s true. God entrusted me with so much so that I can help make sure no family lives in such filth. No human being should.

Question is: Have I fulfilled that calling?

If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you are one of the blessed. So I would encourage you to ask the question as well. How much could we all accomplish, if the Church in our country (and other developed countries) collectively asked the same question:

“Dear God, why me?”

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One of those things garnering more of my attention lately is the many blessings God has given me.

It’s not that I’ve never thought about my blessings before. I’m very thankful for everything God’s given me — family, friends, food, shelter, clothing — not to mention the many “extras” that we as American Christians get to enjoy.

Working at a ministry, however, has helped me to focus on the greatest blessing — other than the blessing of His Son — God has given all of us. That blessing is people.

Ministry is first and foremost about people. It’s about building relationships that will last an eternity. It’s about sharing with people the good news about the ultimate relationship with their Savior.

I, like most people, have no problem thinking about the family I come home to everyday as a precious blessing from God, but here is where my time with Compassion has challenged me.

My family isn’t just my wife and two kids anymore. My family now also includes my sponsored child, Kimberly, who lives in Guatemala.

Kimberly may have started out as a monthly “feel good” payment, but many letters, pictures and prayers later, she has become — like family — more precious than gold.

There are always competing items in any household budget, but Kimberly, like the rest of my family, has no competition. She has, for me, become as important as putting food on the table for my family.

Although balancing a budget is never easy, many are facing even more difficult choices as jobs are being lost across the country. Yet those who find themselves in difficult situations like this are still making the decision to invest in people and not give up on their relationships.

This article, The Not-for-Profit Surge, in Christianity Today talks about one widow’s decision to continue sponsoring three Compassion-assisted children in these difficult financial times. It also talks about how even in tough times, Compassion is doing better than most people would expect. Praise God.

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Read the previous posts.

• If you didn’t work in the ministry field, what other career path would you have chosen? (Amy)

At one time I fully thought I was going to go into journalism. I have a master’s degree in international broadcasting, and I would have enjoyed going into journalism with a heart to do good – to have been a television anchor or a radio personality that honored heroes. The closest I ever come to using that part of my formal schooling is when I do the radio program, Speak Up With Compassion. But that’s about the only thing I can imagine myself doing.

I also could have happily gone back to the mission field where I grew up, but I guess that would be “work in the ministry field” so that won’t work for this question. It’s just hard for me to not think that way.

• What would you say is your “best blessing” that you have had or experienced with this ministry? (Chuck Guth)

I don’t even know where to begin. God has had his hand on Compassion’s ministry for 56 years and I’ve seen 31 of those years. I’ve been able to shepherd this organization for 15 of those years.

I’m overwhelmed by the blessings on the place. I rejoice that there are 4,500 churches across the world that have been able to be salt and light in the midst of really poverty-stricken communities. And I really get a kick out of the fact that we add two churches — with 200 or 300 children each — every day of the year. I get up in the morning and get a cup of coffee, light a fire in the fireplace, and I pray for those two churches wherever they are in the world. I think Lord, I don’t know where they are but let them get off to a good start. Let them be a blessing to their community.

My greatest joy is that this year over 150,000 of Compassion’s little children will accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. That doesn’t happen just because of Compassion … that happens because of the churches where these children are being blessed. It’s at the knee of their pastor or in the Sunday School class under the mango tree. That’s 477 children every day! (But who’s counting?)

The blessings are absolutely overwhelming. Maybe people don’t know this, but this is a 56-year-old organization that has doubled in size in the last four years. That’s amazing! This year’s budget is 54 million dollars bigger than last year’s budget, and that’s in this economy where “nothing” is going right. Amazing! God has chosen to bless us in spite of the circumstances in which we try to work.

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