The Enemy of Preference

Some people prefer vanilla over chocolate (I still can't understand this).

Some men prefer blonds to brunettes.

I prefer flavored coffee over regular.

But when the Lord started nudging me to a new church different from the denomination I'd served in for over 20 years, I said, "But Lord, I prefer this denomination. I have grown up in, led worship in, and even preached in this denomination." I married, served, raised children within the walls of this denomination. It was like a part of my family.

So the Lord watched and waited. I fussed.

Then one Sunday when road construction kept me away from my preferred church, I decided to go to the other one instead. I slipped into a seat in the back as the visiting pastor gave his opening statement, "Preference will keep you from your destiny."

I was stunned. The pastor went on but my attention was riveted by that one statement. I pondered and marinated it in my soul and spirit for the rest of the service.

When service concluded, I was chatting with a mother when her two sons approached us. Like a slow-moving funnel cloud, the gift of discernment and knowledge swirled to the surface and I was able to see a gifting mantle on each boy. When I mentioned this to the mother, she started crying. "Yes! That is such a confirmation. Thank you!"

For years, my spiritual gifts lay dormant; not because of some dark hidden sin, or I was in the wrong denomination, but because I was in a season of fire burning, healing, and rest. I needed to let the Holy Spirit work without the distraction of ministry and active gifts.

My whole married life I was known within my preferred denomination as my Ex's wife. All ministry came out of being his wife. 

Not just by being me.

Now as I sit in my new church, just being me and being known as "me", the door of possibility swings open before me. Just like the mythical Phoenix, I am rising from the ashes of my past a new creation. The old me is still there - only refined by fire and pressed like fine grapes in a wine press.

I don't know what lay ahead, but I do know that I could have missed an important road on my journey by the enemy called "preference."