Have you ever prayed, “Lord, what is Your purpose for my life?”

I want to share a call to Global Missions with a scene from Gone With the Wind and an illustration about searching for your place in God’s kingdom.

Click the video for an audio/visual presentation of this post …

A woman in our church had a dream in which she was walking through various rooms of a beautiful mansion, but she was feeling left out and unneeded. In her dream, this woman finally found a particular ‘room’ she loved. At last, she felt ‘at home’ in the mansion and soon she was making friends and given a perfect job to do.

This lady’s dream was related in a sermon illustration, with the mansion representing God’s kingdom and rooms representing various churches and congregations. Just as this woman had found her ‘place in the house’ (a church family and a place of ministry where she could thrive) the sermon encouraged each person to seek God for His purposes.

Using this example, I spent some time in prayer, asking the Lord to reveal His will and desire for me and for our family ‘in His house.’

As I was walking and praying on the wooded trails surrounding our family’s home, I felt like I saw a similar picture in my mind:

I too was in a mansion, somewhat like the opening scenes of Scarlett O’Hara’s home, Tara, from Gone With the Wind.

As I entered various rooms I suddenly found myself:

• in the kitchen of my local church,
• in a vendor hall of a homeschooling convention,
• in a living room,
• and in churches.

Then, in my thoughts,
I felt led to go downstairs to a massive basement.

As I looked over this ‘room’ (which suddenly appeared to be outdoors), I was reminded of another scene from Gone With the Wind when Scarlett is searching for the doctor to help with her friend Melanie’s birth. In the movie, Scarlett steps through a graphic Civil War scene, with many wounded soldiers lying in row-after-row on the ground, moaning for help. As the imagery is captured on film, the camera pans to a broader-and-broader view as the intense scope of the Civil War’s casualties are revealed. Finally, when Scarlett finds the frazzled doctor and begs him to come help, the doctor responds:

“Are you crazy? I can’t leave these men for a baby! They’re dying … bleeding to death in front of my eyes, no chlorophyll, no bandages, nothin’ to even ease their pain!”

 

Click the video to view this famous scene from Gone With The Wind.

In my mind, I envisioned an open-air scene filled with people.
As my view expanded, wider-and-wider,
I saw massive crowd with many faces and nationalities
and hundreds of crying children.

I knew they represented people from around the world,
orphans who needed to be rescued
and SOULS who needed to be saved.

And just like that lone doctor in Gone With the Wind,
hardly anyone was working in this ‘room.’

People were dying everywhere
and the need was beyond anything I had ever seen.

As I prayed, I felt the Lord speak to my heart:

You are called to THIS room,
to help with the needs of the basement.
But you’re also called upstairs
to other rooms in My House,
to get others to come help.

The need is great
and there aren’t enough workers.

Go to families, women,
homeschoolers and churches.

But don’t get distracted
by the needs in the other rooms.

Romans 10:14-15 tells us,
“How shall they hear without a preacher …
and how shall they preach unless they are sent.”

If you are searching for your ‘place’ in God’s house,
please remember the cries from the basement.