YOU ARE HERE.

Have you ever stood in front of one of those giant maps at a mall, hospital, or amusement park?

There are roads, hallways, buildings, arrows going everywhere… and honestly, none of it means much until you find those three little words:

YOU ARE HERE.
That little dot changes the entire map.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.

We spend so much of our lives trying to figure out where we’re going. What’s next? What is God doing? When will this season change? When will that prayer finally be answered? When will I get to wherever it is I thought I would be by now?

We’re always looking somewhere else on the map.

But maybe one of the most important things we can do is stop for a minute and recognize:

YOU ARE HERE.

Maybe “here” isn’t where you thought you would be.

Maybe you thought life would look different by now. Maybe the marriage would be different. The kids would be different. The career would be further along. The dream would have happened. The grief wouldn’t still hurt. The prayer would have been answered.

Maybe if you could have drawn the map yourself, you would have put that little red dot somewhere completely different.

But here’s what has been hitting me…

God is not surprised by where you are.

Acts 17 says that God determined the times and places in which people would live.

Think about that for a minute.

Of all the generations you could have been born into… you are here now.

Of all the places your life could have unfolded… you are here.

That doesn’t mean everything that has happened to us was God’s desire. We live in a broken world. People make choices. We make choices. Life hurts sometimes.

But it DOES mean that your life isn’t an accident, and your purpose isn’t waiting somewhere else on the map.

Maybe we need to stop asking only:

“God, where are You taking me?”

And start asking:

“God, what do You want to do through me RIGHT HERE?”

Because there are people to love here. There are people who need encouragement here. There are relationships that need healing here.

There are neighbors here.
Coworkers here.
Kids here.
Friends here.
People who desperately need the hope of Jesus… here.

Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared beforehand for us to walk in.

I love that.

Maybe we’ve made “calling” way more complicated than it needs to be.

We keep waiting for some giant moment when God reveals THE PLAN, while He keeps putting people right in front of us.

Sometimes we want the burning bush.
God gives us the person across the table.

We want a giant sign.
God gives us a small opportunity to love somebody.

We want to see the entire map.
And sometimes God simply says…

Look around.
You are here.
So love here.
Serve here.
Give here.
Forgive here.
Notice people here.
Tell someone about Jesus here.
Be faithful here.

And when God moves the dot someday, follow Him there too.

Maybe that’s part of what it really means to be SENT.

It doesn’t always mean going somewhere else.

Sometimes it means finally realizing that God has already sent you HERE.

Your life isn’t on hold.

This season isn’t just something to get through until the “real” part begins. This is your life. This is your moment.

You may not be able to see the whole map from where you’re standing.

That’s okay. Find the dot.
YOU ARE HERE.

God has you here, in this moment in history, for a reason.

Your Life. His Timing.