The New NoRmAL

The word "normal" is seldom used when describing me.  I will readily admit, compared to other women my age, I'm a bit out of step.  While others are raising their children, I'm raising up a ministry.  While they attend baby showers and school events, I attend women's seminars and writing workshops.  While they work hard to maintain orderly households and clean houses, I do well to keep up with the dishes and laundry.  Perhaps this is why I struggle to maintain friendships with many who are my age.  I don't fit in.  The conversations of school work and science fairs don't really apply to me, and when someone finally asks about my work (probably out of pity for the poor girl who's sitting there not saying anything), I'm all too happy to tell them. . . and that's when the crickets begin. Yep, everyone stares at me like I'm speaking Klingon, then one well-meaning soul says, "Well, that's nice."  And suddenly, the subject changes.

Does this behavior hurt my feelings?  Sometimes, but not nearly as much as it used to.  Over the years, the Lord has helped me to understand that I have a God-sized dream that only I can see, so when I try to explain it to others, they just don't quite get it.  After all, what could be so great about sitting home alone in front of a computer all day and typing a jumble of words in hopes that others will want to read them?  For you, it probably doesn't seem great at all, but for me, I feel to my very core that I was made to do this, and it excites me.

Noah got it.  After all, while his friends were going about their daily lives of work and family time, he was building a ginormous boat miles away from the nearest water.  Talk about an oddball!  But Noah had a God-sized dream, and he wasn't about to let a little ridicule keep him from accomplishing it.

Abraham knew what it was like to risk everything for the sake of following God's direction.  When God told him to leave his home and go to a different land, Abraham didn't question.  Without even knowing where he was going, he gathered his belongings and set off on a journey to follow his dream.  Did others question his behavior?  I'm sure.  Did some call him a weirdo (or whatever the Hebrew version of weirdo is)?  More than likely.  But it didn't stop him.

Joseph understood.  While his brothers were out watching the sheep, Joseph was dreaming lofty dreams of ruling over the land.  His brothers thought he was a dork, but Joseph didn't care.  He knew the dream that weighed heavily on his heart and was willing to go through a lot of tribulation to see it fulfilled.

What about you?  Are you sensing that God is calling you toward a God-sized dream?  Perhaps you are, but you're fearing the unknown.  What will your friends say?  Will your family understand?  What if you look like a fool?  Join the club!  I know there are many who don't understand my calling or the sacrifices that my husband and I both make to ensure that I follow this dream, but that's okay.  They don't have to understand.  As long as I'm doing what God called me to do, that's all that matters, and the same goes for you.  Don't worry about what others will think or say.  So what is they think you're not normal?  Who cares, and who are they to judge what's normal?

You do what God has set before you, and let Him take care of the results.  As for the opinion of others, well, we could start our own little club.  We'll call it "The Club of the New NoRmAL," and we'll only allow misfits to join (kind of like David in the cave of Adullam, I Samuel 22:2).  So there!  We may be weird, but at least we'll be weird together.  But more than that, we'll be satisfied knowing that we've been obedient to God's will.  In the end, that's all that really matters.

For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.- Galatians 1:10