Category: Spiritual Growth

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Truth

I was reading today and came across this line, “Don’t hide from the truth you need to hear.”

This guys was talking about feedback at work and even going to the doctor or dentist. It resonated with me because I was that guy. Often times I would hide from the truth I needed to hear. I knew areas I am weak in and struggle with at work and personally. I knew I needed to get a physical, yet avoided making an appointment.

About three years ago I got a heath screening and was shocked at the results. At the age of 36 they told me to go see my doctor right away. I had high cholesterol, high blood sugar, very low good cholesterol, was overweight and my blood pressure was not good. Needless to say, that truth got my attention. I began the long process of change in my physical health. You could say that the truth I was hiding from found me and shook me up. Well, three years later my cholesterol is down almost 100 points, my good cholesterol has more than doubled, my sugar is way down and my blood pressure is right on. I have lost weight and am exercising regularly. I have changed the way I eat and exercise and my perspective on health and food has changed.

All that made me think about other truth that we hide from. The Bible says that the truth will set you free. To be set free we need to face the truth and not hide. Adam & Eve hid from God after they sinned in the garden of Eden. We too, often try to hide from God when we sin or fall short. We look at some of our behavior and think, I can’t change, that is just how I am. We keep doing the same things over and over again and feel worse and worse after we do it. We usually only change after the truth shakes us up. To find out the truth maybe you need to ask for some feedback from those closest to you.

When was the last time you asked your spouse how you could be a better husband or wife? When was the last time you asked a friend the truth about yourself? When was the last time you felt God telling you to surrender that certain thing to Him? When was the last time you heard a message at church that hit you between the eyes? When truth hits us, it can sometimes bounce off of us. We can feel conviction, but not change. We know we should follow through, yet we don’t put into action what we know will be good for us. To really change you must make a decision that you want to change and that you will get the help you need to change.

You see I did not lose weight and get healthy by myself. I had my wife helping me, I had a coach I met with and a program I followed. If you want to change spiritually or emotionally, you must do the same thing. You need people around you to support and encourage you; to challenge and motivate you; to hold you accountable and push you. The Bible is full of truth for us to follow. When we apply those truths to our lives we grow, change, influence and impact people. When we take truth and put into into action we begin to change. Our perspective about God and other people begins to change. We start seeing things differently.

What truth are you hiding from? Is it the truth about money, possessions and work? How about relationships and marriage, or being single? What about the truth about our hearts or what we put into our minds? It may be the truth about eternal life or even physical health. Most people say they are searching for truth and want truth, yet most of us hide from the truth we need to hear.

Have you heard the phrase to speak the truth in love. When we know something is true, we are to speak it, not to hurt or destroy, but to lovingly help. Don’t think about speaking truth to someone unless you have built a bridge with that person. Otherwise they are not going to want to hear it from you. First build the relationship and trust, then wait for God to open the door to share whatever truth will help that person. If you want to be healthy spiritually, emotionally and physically you need to apply the truth from God’s Word to your everyday life. It starts with the little things that we know we should do. Build on that day by day and don’t procrastinate about things you know you need to face. Ask others for feedback on how they think you need to change, and don’t get offended when they are honest. Remember that only when the truth shakes you up do you begin to really change.

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Weekend in Review

This weekend was very interesting for me. It was busy, but relaxed, if that makes sense. Friday was a holiday and I spent the day with my wife shopping and just hanging out. Saturday morning I got up and went to the First Town days in New Philadelphia and ran in my first 5k race. I ran with some other NewPointer’s Dave Cantwell, Kevin & Marianne West, Pat Walker, Jenn Klopfer. I am sure there were some others as well. I was a little nervous before the race, because people kept telling us how tough the course was, a lot of hills. I ran most of the race with Dave, he helped me set the pace. I ended up running a better time than I expected and loved the whole environment of running. I can see how this can be a little addictive. I did not realize the running world was so popular. I can’t wait for the next race I can run in.

Later on Saturday I did a wedding for a couple at the Carlisle Inn in Sugarcreek. Congratulations Ron & Jackie! I went home and relaxed Saturday evening by mowing the yard and pulling some weeds in the garden.

Sunday morning I was scheduled to preach at my parents church. I did catch the first part of the NewPointe service online. It rocked! Pleasant View Mennonite church was having a day at the park (Memory Park near Mt. Hope). I grew up in this church, so it was a little weird to be preaching in front of that church. My grandpa and grandma came out to see me as well. They had never heard me preach. My grandfather was a pastor at Sharon Mennonite for many years. He is very passionate about preaching and still loves it, he is in his mid 80’s.

I talked about loving God with all your soul. How we need to make sure our souls are well tended. These were the main points:

1. Receive God’s love – You matter to God. You are significant and God loves you. You can’t do anything to make God love you more. God wants to use the pain from your past for ministry in the future. To do that you need to allow God to heal the hurts and hangups you have from your past. Only then can you experience His love and become the person He wants you to be.

2. Set some Soul/spiritual goals – Spiritual growth doesn’t just happen. You need to plan and work at it like any relationship. When was the last time you sat down and set some spiritual growth goals?

3. Prayer – Prayer is how we build intimacy with God. We are all priest’s that can communicate with God at any time. Your prayers should be simple, real and honest.

4. Love other people – If you can’t get along with other people then you may have a problem with God. Jesus said to love our neighbor as ourselves. He said this is as important as loving God. How compassionate are you about other people.

I challenged them to stand out from the ordinary Christians. To be a purple cow Christian, that will turn heads and make people ask questions. The local church is God’s only plan to change the world!

That was my weekend. I had a couple of naps, finished a John Grisham book and went on a walk with my wife as well. Oh yea, we drove to Canton and bought some cat food.

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Growing through adversity

I have been thinking about this topic for awhile now. I am passionate about growing in faith, character and leadership. That has been my personal mission statement for many years. Often times we forget that to grow, we must face adversity. If we do not have adversity we don’t fully develop. The Christian life is intended to be one of continuous growth. We all want to grow, but we often resist the process.

So how can we learn and grow through adversity? The first thing is to accept the fact that we will have adversity in life. We need to submit to the fact that life will have difficulties and we need to look for the lessons involved with each adversity. We also need to apply God’s word when we face adversity. There are many Biblical principles that we can put into action in times of adversity. Can you show Christian love when someone offends you or treats you unjustly? Lastly we must remember the lessons learned in times of adversity

Adversity does several things in our lives. It prunes us of the the unfruitful stuff in our lives. An unpruned vine will produce a great deal of unproductive growth but little fruit. I was talking with my Amish neighbor that runs an orchard. I asked about the peach trees they had been working on. He said that they had to knock of three fourths of the budding peaches in order to get the best crop of peaches. If they would not do that they would get a bunch of peaches that are small and not very tasty.

Adversity also helps us to become more like Christ. This is called holiness. God uses adversity to enlighten our minds about our own needs as well as the teachings of Scripture. He uses adversity to shape and mold us into the men and women He desires us to be.

Adversity causes us to be more dependant on Christ. God teaches us through adversity to rely on Him instead of ourselves. Adversity forces us to look to God for strength, wisdom and courage.

Adversity also develops perseverance. Hebrews 10:36 says “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised,” and in 12:1 it says “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” To persevere means to press forward. To keep pushing on despite hardships and roadblocks. To stay on track with God’s will for your life no matter what gets in the way. This can sometimes be a long drawn out process that can take years. That process will develop your character and prepare you for what God has in store for your life.

God also uses adversity to equip us to serve more effectively in ministry to others. Adversity allows us to identify with others that are suffering or hurting. It allows us to help them through similar times.

A great example of what I have been talking about is the cecropia moth. This moth is a beautiful creature, but it must go through a great struggle to get out of it’s cocoon. I read the story about someone that was watching this moth go through this struggle. In an effort to help, the viewer snipped the shell of the cocoon. Soon the moth came out, with its wings all crimped and shriveled. But as the person watched, the wings remained weak. The moth, which in a few minutes would have stretched those wings to fly, was now doomed to crawling out its brief life in frustration of ever being the beautiful creature God created it to be. What the person that “helped out” the moth did not realize, was that the struggle to emerge from the cocoon was an essential part of developing the muscle system of the moth’s body and pushing the body fluids out into the wings to expand them. By unwisely seeking to cut short the moth’s struggle, the watcher had actually crippled the moth and doomed its existence.

The adversities in our lives are much like that moth in the cocoon. God uses them to develop our spiritual, emotional and relational muscles. Many people go undeveloped and never realize their full potential because they sidestepped adversity or did not learn from it. Sometimes we can do the same in others peoples lives by “helping them out” and not allowing God to develop their character. We need to be careful how we face adversity and how we help others face adversity.

James 1:2-4 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

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Stuck

Have you ever been stuck? I don’t mean stuck in a ditch, I mean stuck in life, stuck in a rut or in an addiction. The definition of stuck is to be brought to a standstill, blocked, baffled, halted, obstructed, a state of difficulty or hesitation.

Everyone gets stuck sometime. Getting stuck shows itself in many different forms: Alcohol, drugs, workaholism, people pleasing, food, disease, suicide, death, molestation, pornography, divorce, relationships, rebellion, anger, guilt, phobias/fear, handicaps and loneliness. Some of these seem much worse than others, but they are all a problem. We can sometimes look at our problems and think, “they’re not so bad. I can handle them on my own.” By not seeking help or facing these problems head on we can allow our problems to control us. They quickly become our focus and get us in a downward spiral.

Today I read the story that Major League baseball player Josh Hamilton shared. He was a very talented player and was drafted number 1 overall in 1999 by the Tampa Devil Rays. Soon after that he got stuck in drugs and alcohol. He was in a downward spiral that nearly took him out. After reading that story it reminded me of many people that I have talked to that are stuck in similar things. Stuck in bondage and not living free like God wants us to be.

A lot of people are stuck, the divorce rate remains very high for both Christians and non-Christians. Drug and food abuse are on the increase. Alcoholism negatively affects one-third of all American families. A recent study on molestation predicts that 28 per cent of girls will have been molested by the time they reach fourteen, and by the time they reach the age of 18 that figure goes up to 38 percent. Most people know about life, but they still don’t know how to live life. They may know about God, but not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They may even have a personal relationship with Christ and still be stuck.

So whatever you are stuck in, God wants to help you get unstuck. The first step is admitting you have a problem. You need to step back and realize that you are not God and that you are powerless to control your tendency to do the wrong thing. Next you need to earnestly believe that God exists, that you matter to Him, and that He has the power to help you recover. Then consciously choose to commit all your life and will to Christ’s care and control. After that you need to openly examine and confess your faults to yourself, to God and to someone you trust. Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in your life and humbly ask Him to remove your character defects. You also need to evaluate your relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt you and make amends for harm you’ve done to others except when doing so would harm them or others even more. You also need to reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading,and prayer in order to know God and His will for your life and gain power to follow His will. Finally yield yourself to God to be used to bring the Good News to others, both by example and by your words.

These 8 principles of recovery are found in the Beatitudes in Mathew Chapter 5. Celebrate Recovery is a ministry that uses these principles to help people recover form addictions. There is a group currently meeting in Uhrichsville, OH. You may not be addicted to alcohol or drugs, but you may have other things you are stuck in. Start taking these steps to get unstuck and find some people along the way to help you. Sometimes is just takes someone to hold you accountable and ask you some questions to get you unstuck. Someone to coach you and encourage you. Start praying today that God will bring the right person or people at the right time to keep you moving forward. Don’t remain stuck in the same old stuff year after year. Live life the way God intended you to live it, Free.

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Is God Really in Control?

Maybe you have asked that question in the past, or are asking it right now. When bad, horrible things happen around us or too us, we often ask that question. A question I hear some times is why do bad things happen to good people. My standard answer has been that we live in a fallen sinful world. Well that is true, but there is more to it.

I started reading this book by Jerry Bridges called “Is God Really In Control? – Trusting God In A World Of Hurt.

This book has been very helpful in getting a better picture of who God is, and why we should always trust Him. The author does a great job of answering some of the tough questions we have about God and the things that happen in this world.

I thought I would share some of the authors thoughts with you. Here are some of the things that I highlighted in the book:

“In order to trust God, we must always view our adverse circumstances through the eyes of faith, not of sense.”

“God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about”

“In order to trust God we must know Him in an intimate personal way.”

“To corral our anxious speculation about God in times of suffering, we must shape our vision of God by the Bible, not by our experiences.”

“All people – believers in God as well as unbelievers – experience anxiety, frustration, heartache and disappointment. Some suffer intense physical pain and catastrophic tragedies. But what should distinguish the suffering of believers from nonbelievers is the confidence that our suffering is under the control of an all-powerful and all-loving God; our suffering has meaning and purpose in God’s eternal plan, and He brings or allows into our lives only what is for His glory and our good.”

“Prayer is the acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and of our dependence upon Him to act on our behalf. Prudence is the acknowledgement of our responsibility to use legitimate means. We must not separate the two.”

“As we watch tragic events unfold, or more particularly as we experience adversity ourselves, we often are prone to ask God, “Why?” The reason we ask is because we do not see any possible good to us or glory to God that can come from the particular adverse circumstances that have come upon us or our loved ones. But is not the wisdom of God-thus the glory of God- more eminently displayed in bringing good out of calamity that out of blessing?”

“The good that God works for in our lives is conformity to the likeness of His Son. So His good is not necessarily our present comfort or happiness, but rather conformity to Christ in ever increasing measure for eternity.”

“But real change, down in the depth of our souls, is produced as the tenets of Scripture are worked out in real life. This usually involves adversity. We may admire and even desire the character trait of patience, but we will never learn patience until we have been treated unjustly and learned experientially to “suffer long” (the meaning of patience) the one who treats us unjustly. If you stop and think about it, you realize that most godly character traits can only be developed through adversity.”

I have been challenged and encouraged by this small book. The author uses a lot of Scripture to back up his thoughts.

I am only half way through the book and looking forward to the rest. What I have taken away so far is this: God has a much bigger plan than we can comprehend, and we are playing a small part in that big plan. When adversity hits us, it is often a big growth time in our lives and develops godly character. God also uses our adversity to bring others into relationship with Him and transform lives. God really is in control!

Between this book and our current series at NewPointe called “What Lies Beneath” I am really doing some self-examination. I am seeing that I have a lot of work to do in many areas of my life. I am realizing that God loves me so much that he wants me to become more like Jesus in every area of my life. He is cheering me on and encouraging me to grow and mature in my faith, character and leadership.

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Singleness

My last post about loneliness led me to the thought of being single. Many people equate being single to being lonely. Our society is filled with many people that are single. Some have never married, others are divorced, others have lost their spouse. For whatever reason we have a large population of single people. I have noticed that many singles are attracted to the local church. It may be because they are looking for healing of the hurts of divorce or loss. It may be they are searching for community and friendships. It may be to look for a spouse.

I am not single, so I don’t know what a single person is going through. I do however know what the Apostle Paul and Jesus said about being single. Paul said is 1 Corinthians 7: 1, 8, 25-26 “It is good for a man not to marry…Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am…Now about virgins:…I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.”

In these four verses Paul is addressing questions that the Corithian church had about marriage. They were asking if it was good or better to be married. That culture was filled with sexual tempatation, much like our culture today. Whether you are married or single those temptations are just as big. In that type of an environment Paul was saying that is is good to be single and to be content in the situation where God has placed you, wether married or single. He made it clear that both marriage and singleness are gifts from God. One is not morally better than the other, and both are valuable to accomplishing God’s purposes.

Paul talked about the benefits of serving God in a deeper way by being single and being able to give God more of your time. Paul was in fact single himself. People that are married must also meet the needs of their spouse and family, which makes it difficult to serve God or go into mission work.

Jesus also talked about this subject. In Matthew 19:12 he said “For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

I believe He is implying here that there are some who are so disciplined and motivated that they choose singleness so that they may better give undistracted service to the Lord and other people. Jesus did not make this mandatory, but optional. Not everyone can live such a disciplined life. It is important to note that the church and the world owe much to those who have deliberately chosen this course. Many single men and women have given their lives to serving and reaching the lost. As a result the Good News about Jesus has been spread across the world. I have met some of these folks and am amazed at their heart and passion to reach the lost.

Others have done this for a portion of their lives and were able to be content in that situation and that stage of life. If you find yourself single, that does not mean you must be lonely. God can use your singleness to build His kingdom. You can use your gifts and abilities to serve God and people. You can get involved in a small group and build friendships. You can volunteer and serve in new and exciting ways. You can look to God to meet your needs of acceptance, significance and security. God may be calling you to something bigger, something that can last for eternity.

The end of Romans 12:2 says that “God’s will is good, pleasing and perfect.” Because His will is good and perfect, it should be accepted, adapted to, and embraced. Whatever your situation is, God can use you.

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Loneliness

I meet with, and talk to a lot of people. Some are married, some are single, some divorced, some separated. I have been hearing a similar theme with many of the people I have been talking to lately. Words like frustration, emptiness and loneliness. As I began to think about this and read about loneliness, I soon discovered that this is a widespread problem in our society.

Loneliness comes in many forms and they all can be very painful. The death of a spouse or close family member can leave you feeling lonely. A separation or a divorce or even a broken engagement can create intense feelings of loneliness. An inability to initiate or maintain healthy relationships as a single person can also create deep loneliness. Even a married person can experience deep loneliness, especially if they are have marriage problems.

Our world today also makes it very easy to be independent and alone which can create feelings of loneliness. We can do most things in the privacy of our homes and seldom have close contact with other people.

So what do you do if you are experiencing this thing called loneliness?

Loneliness started way back when Adam & Eve sinned. They had a perfect environment and a perfect relationship with God. They had no loneliness or fear. After they sinned their relationship with God was broken and they began to experience fear and loneliness. This has continued throughout history and is still a big problem today.

I believe there are three things that can help fight against this feeling of emptiness and loneliness. We talk about these three things a lot where I work (Newpointe Community Church).

The first thing is building intimacy with God. Deepening your relationship with God and living a life of worship is the first step needed to combat loneliness. To become intimate with someone you must spend time with them and get to know their heart. The more you do that with God, the more He fills the void or emptiness you are feeling. As you begin to understand how God sees you and how much He loves you, your needs for acceptance, security and significance are met. Often times as we get off track with God, we become more depressed and lonely. We begin to focus on the problems and feelings instead of spending more time with God. It is easy to get distracted in this area of our lives when we are hurting.

The second thing is to get involved in community. We were created for relationships and often that is missing in our lives. We all crave community, close friendships and a place were people know us. It is very easy to isolate ourselves and not take the step or risk of community. My church is made up of many small groups. People that get together on a regular basis and have fun together, talk together, eat together, pray together and study together. Most people don’t have five close friends, they are lucky to have one. To combat loneliness you need to get involved in community.

The third thing is to have influence in your world. What I mean by that is to serve. When you use your God-given abilities and gifts to help other people it fills some of that emptiness as well. By giving something back to your church, community, neighbors or strangers you get so much more in return.

Using your influence also means sharing your story with other people. The things you have experienced and gone through can often times help someone else make it through a similar experience. Those two things; serving/volunteering and sharing your life story are huge in fighting loneliness.

Loneliness would want you to sit at home and think you have nothing to offer the world. To think that you can’t make a difference and things can’t get any better. Those are lies, the truth is you can make a difference and you do have something to offer. Intimacy with God, Involvement in Community and Influence in your world are all important and needed to overcome loneliness and emptiness.

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Just finished Reading

I finished two books this weekend. I had been working on these books for a few months and finally finished them both. One of the books I was using as a book study with a group of guys I meet with every other Tuesday morning for breakfast. The book is called “Simple Church” by Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger. They did a study on churches that are growing and those that are stagnate or declining. This book shares the results of those studies. It is very interesting.

The bottom line is that the churches that keep it simple and made it clear and easy for people to grow spiritually were growing. The churches that offered a lot of programs and minstries were declining. We have had some great discussions about our churches. The guys in my group go to a different church, so it was nice to hear their perspective on this stuff as well. If you are involved at your church I would highly recommend you read this book.

The other book I finished is called “Soul Cravings” by Erwin Raphael McManus. This is an incredible book. It is different in its layout and design, more like a journal than a book. McManus talks about Intimacy, Destiny, Meaning and Seeking God. He addresses some of the tough questions about God and why we exist and how we are wired. I found Soul Cravings to be a refreshing, thought provoking book. If you are seeking to know God and yourself better, this book may help. I plan on giving some of these away.

One of the quotes toward the end of the book says “God has placed cravings within your soul that will drive you insane or drive you to him. Your soul longs for God; you just may not know it yet.”

“We are all searching for truth.
We are all looking for God.
We crave meaning.
We long to trust.
We need to believe in something.
We need to believe in someone.
We need to believe in God.”

McManus is real and relevant in his writing. He is clearly a free thinker and not stuck in being religious. He stresses relationship and intimacy, read it for yourself.

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Change Your Thinking

As some of you know my wife Vikki and I have been on a program called Thin & Healthy through my work to lose weight and get healthy. We have been doing this for around 6 weeks now, and we have seen good results. I have lost over 20 pounds and Vikki has lost over 10 pounds. Our entire staff at NewPointe Community Church has lost over 200 pounds. We have been in a wellness program for over a year now as a staff.

It has been challenging and somewhat difficult, because this is not a diet, but a change in thinking. When I first starting this program I was simply thinking about losing weight. As we have worked the program, I have discovered it is retraining how we think about food and movement (exercise). We meet with a coach twice a week to check our progress and make sure we are staying on track.

The biggest thing for me has been to retrain my thinking about eating all the food groups and in the right proportions. In the past I tended to eat large amounts of only the foods I liked. I also would often skip meals when I was busy. Over the past 6 weeks the coaches have been working on making us aware of what we are eating by keeping a journal of what we eat and how much we exercise.

All of this is very similar to what it takes for us to get fit spiritually. We have to retrain our thinking about spiritual growth and really go into training to change bad habits, or flawed thinking. Sometimes we may need a coach to get us started and help make us aware of our wrong thinking. We should be writing down or journaling our spiritual journey as well, so that we become more aware of what we are actually doing, whether right or wrong.

In my spiritual journey I have often only done the things I liked or read the parts of the Bible I liked. I would often skip praying, reading, meditating, solitude and fasting when I was busy. These and other spiritual disciplines would often get put on the back burner or were forgotten about.

The Apostle Paul said that getting fit physically has some benefit to us but that getting fit spiritually has much more benefit to us. I hope that I can get fit in both areas of my life. To do that it takes changing the way I think, because most of us have a wrong way of thinking about both these areas. Some of these things we know we should do, because it will help us feel better and be more energized. However knowing and doing are too different things. If you want to change your life, then you need to change your thinking. Changing your thinking takes some hard work and often some help along the way.

I want to encourage you to seek out a coach that can help you in both these areas of your life. Someone who knows a little more than you do and can encourage you, challenge you and help change the way you think. That is the only way you can keep the weight off for life and steadily grow spiritually and not revert back to old habits.

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Influence

I met with a friend of mine on Friday afternoon. He wanted to share with me that he was having a conflict in a relationship because of differing beliefs. His friend has a different worldview of who God is and how we can relate to Him. She believes that everyone will eventually make it to heaven and that other religions pray to and worship the same God he does.

My friend was struggling with this and had tried to point her to Jesus and the Bible. He felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere though. I told him to not force it. God does the work of drawing people to Him. I told him to pray for her and give her some resources like a Bible that is easy to read and understand, a series from NewPointe Community Church called “Reality Check” and maybe a book like “A Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel.

The exciting thing to me is that his friend is listening and searching for truth. I believe when someone sincerely want to find truth, God draws them to Jesus, because Jesus is truth. I told my friend that he has influence with her and can be an encouragement or a stumbling block for her.

Sometimes we can come on too strong and try too hard to convince someone we are right. Instead we need to share truth in a loving way. Not judgemental or holier than thou. My friend really cares about this person and that is why he is so concerned about her understanding. If he can be patient and pray diligently for her, God will draw her in and open her eyes to the real truth.

So, who do you have influence with? Who are you praying for and reaching out to? If you don’t have anyone, start asking God to bring a person into your life that you can invest in. Make yourself available to be used by God. He may use you to draw someone closer to Him. Pray for open doors in your life and see what happens.