How to Partner with God in His Work

I’ve heard plenty of Christians talking about partnering with God in His work. I think this is a great concept, but usually when that work is explained it’s incredibly limited. When people partner with God in his work, they’re often talking about building the church, and even then the church is so narrowly defined you’d think God’s work was exclusively about building small, academic institutions in which people study theories about God. I think God is truly working to build those small academic communities we commonly think of as church, but the whole church is much larger and less easily defined. God can see the church but we can only feel around in the dark and recognize it when we see a common Jesus in a neighbors heart.

That said, I think God is working on much, much more than building the church. If we look at the work God has done, we see God has made beauty, so I think creating beauty is Gods work. We see that God has created structure and order, so cultivating a place is God’s work, too. God created love, and seeks to protect love, so creating and protecting love is Gods work and we can partner with him in that work. God created brains that can solve problems, so science is God’s work as well as theater and literature.

When we narrowly define God’s work, we end up channeling people into working for the church, often motivated by guilt, rather than partnering with God in whatever skill or passion he has given to them as a gift, as a way of bonding with him.

So, do you really believe planting a garden is a way to partner with God in his work? Do you believe writing and performing a play is partnering with God in his work? What about studying micro-organisms? What about baking a cake? It’s all God’s world, and in everything we do we can partner with him in his love for it. How do you partner with God?

How to Partner with God in His Work is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Fredericksburg, TX

Elizabeth Walker and I met in high school through random friends and she has been such a consistent friend since.  She went to Baylor for college and was a Chi O there!  Throughout the years and all the miles, we have remained friends, even though we do not get to see each other very often at all. Each Christmas break when everyone was home from college, my friends Kaylan, Liz, and I would always meet up and spent hours catching up in Liz's hot tub.  She drove all the way from Waco and back just to come to my wedding. Such a sweet, dedicated friend.  

Christmas 2005

Kayan, me, and Liz

Fastforward to 2011 and Liz will be marrying Mr. Joel Wilkins this July.  Here's the lovely couple.  The wonderful Casey and Laura Z will be shooting their wedding and I'm so excited!  

Last weekend was spent in Fredericksburg, TX for a bachelorette weekend in honor of Liz... and it was so much fun!  Kaylan and I made plans to fly to TX to meet Liz's college friends and spend the weekend celebrating her and the next phase of her life.  It was such a great weekend of relaxation and catching up.  

I apologize... the rest of the pictures were taken from my phone, so they aren't the best.  I can't believe I forgot my camera!!!

It really is so much more fun to fly with friends!

We arrived in Houston, then piled in the car to head to Fredericksburg, "The Heart of the Texas Hill Country"!  For those of you (like myself) who are not very familiar with Texas, here's where we were.  Fredericksburg is such a cool place!  There is an adorable downtown areas with tons of places to shop, eat, and hang out! 

We arrived in town and pulled up at the cutest bed and breakfast.  The girls planning the weekend booked the whole house, which is normally divided up into two separate spaces; the Keidel Inn and Guesthouse, and the Legacy Suite on Main.  It was AWESOME.  

Our first meal in town as at Der Lindenbaum, an authenic german restaurant, where I learned the definition of scnitzel.  I had Wiener Scnitzel (basically a fried pork chop) and Kaylan had the Sausage Sampler. It was yummy!

We came back to the house for some yummy cupcakes from Sprinkles!  Red Velvet and Strawberry. Yum.

 Some bubbly before Liz opened her gifts.  :)

The next morning, we woke up, got breakfast, and hit the town shopping!  I didn't get anything, but this picture is from one of the cute shops downtown!

We had lunch at an amazing restaurant called The Peach Tree.  It was SO GOOD.  I recommend the "Super Good For You Sandwhich." What a name. haha  The food was so fresh and delicious.  After lunch we made out way out to Becker Vineyards.   I didn't realize how many wineries there were in TX, but it was awesome!  Liz's sister works at a winery, so she used her expertise in selecting this particular one to visit.  $10 for 6 tastings and a wine glass?  Sign me up!

I brought home a bottle of Malbec for me and the hubs.

We all purchased our favorite wine, then headed back to the bed and breakfast for the evening. The next morning, we loaded up the car, headed back to Houston, and Kaylan and I flew back to the 'sip.  It was such a great, relaxing weekend. I'm so glad that I was able to go! 

Side note:  Kaylan just got engaged and is getting married this December, so we got to talk "wedding" a lot during the weekend.  She asked me to be a bridesmaid and I am so excited!  I've been thinking about running the St. Jude Half again, and this wedding might be the best motivation to do it!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!  Jesse, Kelley, Trae, and I all walked to the farmers market and then onto the garden this morning.  Guess who is having fresh veggies for dinner?!?! Yummy.