I spent the weekend before Mother’s Day attending the “Pink Impact” women’s conference at Gateway Church in Southlake. The conference provided fascinating speakers, refreshment and growth, lots of fun, and even a present: a new friendship with a sweet lady named Chiew. She had flown all the way from Seattle to visit a friend and go to the conference. We’re staying in touch, too. Seriously, what would we do without Facebook??

I also made friends with this character, who performed in a skit and then stayed for the dance party.

In the smallest possible nutshell, I’d say that “Destiny” is a medium-size word with a big meaning that often starts out small.

Now that we’ve covered all the sizes, let’s see what I took away from hearing Blynda.

She used three people in the historical narrative of Joshua, chapters 1-7, as illustrations. Two show us how to approach our destiny, and one shows how NOT to.

First, Rahab. She was a prostitute in Jericho who refused to let her past interfere with her destiny. By the time the Israelite spies came to town, she’d heard about how the living God had pretty much moved heaven and earth to get the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Knowing Jericho was hosed, she made the choice to trust Israel’s God, at risk of her life. She helped the spies and made them promise they would spare her, along with her family.

After the wall fell and Israel attacked, Rahab probably wasn’t thinking “Woohoo—destiny, baby!” All she had was her life, her family, and a really big pile of rubble. But she stepped over that rubble, married one of the men of Israel, and started a family. Little did she know that her great-great-grandson would be King David. Even less could she have imagined she would one day be a direct ancestor of the Messiah.

Second, Joshua. The leader who took over from Moses—talk about a tough act to follow. Before he saw the miracle, Joshua had to both believe God’s promises and act on the angelic instructions he’d received. For a whole week he was to perform small daily tasks that seemed meaningless. Embarrassingly simple. 100% un-Destiny-like. But he faithfully obeyed rather than trying to rush ahead to the Big Someday Dream.

Then the wall fell, and—rrrrumble, boom!—“Someday” had arrived.

But how about that negative example?

That would be Achan. See, God had clearly told the people not to take any plunder from Jericho. Plunder would come later but this time, the city and everything in it was to be destroyed. Unfortunately Achan liked the looks of some gold and silver, plus a designer cloak. He rationalized them right into his tent.

Israel’s next battle should have been easy-peasy. But Israel lost—because God would not help them until all the Jericho stuff was destroyed. When Joshua found out what had happened, Achan died for his selfishness—along with his whole family.

Achan disqualified himself from his destiny because he envied someone else’s stuff.
Don’t be that guy.

My takeaway?

1. Destiny is available to anyone who will trust God.
2. You may never know the significance of your destiny during your lifetime.
3. Destiny may not appear with a laser light show or dramatic music. Right now it may look like something small—a journal, a college class, piles of dirty dishes or baby clothes, a coffee break with a co-worker.
4. My destiny is unique to me. I can do what no one else can, so I should be content in my present role without envying anyone else.
5. God has the Big Someday Dream—and my best interest—at heart.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on destiny. Have you found yours? Does it seem significant to you? You’re welcome to share in the comments below.

You can also read Blynda’s encouragement for yourself at her website.

Thanks for reading,
Jan