But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. -John 16:5-7

One afternoon in the not so distant past, my husband and I were at odds about something I cannot even remember. He speaks northern, and I speak southern, so it isn’t uncommon for us to completely misconstrue one another’s words. In his vocabulary, there is no such thing as ‘Bless your heart’ to soften the blow from his truth telling lips.

I had just cleaned out my purse that morning, and the little pile of trash still remained on the floor. Out of mounting frustration and anger from our conversation, I snatched up a discarded candy cane and launched it straight at the ceiling, watching it shatter and rain down in pieces.

I was horrified to see that I also grabbed an unopened container of ranch sauce from Chick-fil-A and hurled it at the ceiling right along with the candy cane. Now I had sauce splattered all over the television, hardwood floor, and fireplace in addition to the sticky pieces of peppermint. Awesome.

The shame and failure to contain my emotions began to cloud my judgment, and immediately following this little outburst, I began chastising myself. Once again I failed. How could God possibly use me? Ever the opportunist, the enemy joined in my little pity party, assuring me that I was correct, and I was definitely useless to God.

God gave me this strong will and fiery personality. He knows what a struggle it can be for me to contain at times, and once I do let it loose, He knows how hard it is for me to rein it in. But He gave me this personality so that I could use my strong will for His kingdom, not mine. There is one way to harness it and restrain it for His use and not my own, and that my sisters, is the power of the Holy Spirit.

It seems unfathomable that Jesus would tell the disciples in John 16 that it was to their advantage He leave them. In God’s perfect plan, once Christ had given His life so that we may have ours, His ascension marked the moment a new permanent resident would begin to set up shop within each believer.

Until that point, the Holy Spirit had not been widely given to God’s people, nor was it permanent. Now, beginning with Pentecost, His presence would be permanent and it was empowering. Cowardly, wishy-washy, often clueless disciples now had a spiritual IQ of over 200 and the boldness of a lion. The same power given to us if we believe in Christ.

There are over 7 billion people in the world and no two people were created with the same fingerprint. Just as unique as our fingerprints, God’s blueprint for our lives contains a plan that no other person on the face of the earth can fulfill.

Behind the outward image we often project to others, all too often, the struggle behind the scenes is real. There are moments of contentment, but there are also moments of despair, struggle, heartache and failure. Moments where we feel that we are spinning all alone and out of control on this giant Ferris wheel of life.

If you are willing to surrender and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, you will be empowered to do great things in the name of the Lord for the sake of His kingdom. You are not useless, and you are not meant to wander aimlessly through this life wasting the precious minutes God gave you. He has a plan, you only have to ask the Holy Spirit to guide you each step of the way.

God knows we are imperfect, and He loves us anyway. It is no great shock to Him when we fail. That doesn’t mean we quit. It means we dig deep, repent, dust off our boots and follow the real leader.

Give it up sister.