When Your Purpose Exceeds Your Current Platform

by Jalexus McClendon

Three years go I sat in the car pickup line, patiently waiting to pick up my then nine-year-old son from school. My windows were rolled down and there was a cool Hawaii breeze blowing as I sat shaded by a nearby tree. I had recently moved back to Hawaii from Texas after going through my second divorce. Though it wasn’t my first rodeo, it didn’t mean that processing the pain of the situation was any easier. I moved back to Hawaii with my two children and into the home with church family that I had met during my first tour to Hawaii years prior. Despite the divorce, transition back to Hawaii, and me adjusting to my new life as a single mother of two, God continued to show himself to be faithful. On this day and in this moment, I sat there remembering just how faithful He had been, and it brought a smile to my face. It was at this time I felt God calling me to minister to others through writing and speaking.

This was a Moses moment for me. You know when God told Moses that he would use him to free the Israelites from the bondage of the Egyptians. I don’t compare the two scenarios to say the magnitude of what was being asked were the same but more so because I responded just as Moses did. God called Moses and Moses immediately responded with the reasons why he felt that he could not do what God called him to do. I’m reminded of the phrase “God doesn’t call the qualified, but He qualifies those that he calls.” Moses replied, “But who am I?!?!” God replied, “I Am Who I Am”. Basically, Moses was told it was not in his own ability that he would be able to accomplish the task given but only as he depended on the all-powerful mighty God. My response was a mixture of the inadequacy of Moses and the comfort of being okay with what I had currently going on. I was operating as an ordained minister at my local church. I served on the praise and worship team, served as an intercessor on the prayer team, and also served on the church’s cleaning ministry. So, I felt like I had enough Kingdom business going on. As if we could ever be too busy being about our Father’s Business. (Palm to face)  Now to the who me?!?! Like Moses, I thought to myself who am I? I am far from perfect but perfectly flawed. I had a list of “why not me” and God told me that if He called me to it, He would grace me to do it!

So I began to write the vision for a Blog for Christian Women titled “Peculiar in a Popular Place”. I started but I did not finish. Years would go by, yet God would confirm my purpose numerous times by opening doors I could not have imagined myself. During the time in between the call for the Blog and the start of it, I was given the assignment to be the scribe for my Pastor and beloved Spiritual Father. This would entail me formatting his spoken messages into an organized written format, ensuring the revelatory details were clear and concise. He spoke with me privately and told me I had a gift when it came to writing and that God would use this gift to bless others. Once again, God was affirming to me, what He had already released to me. I would have those moments of motivation and begin working on the blog again. Yet, along the way I found myself putting the blog on the shelf and focusing on myself and the other roles and responsibilities I had. One night and years after the Lord telling me to start the blog, I had a dream. I was taken back to a moment when I was deployed in Afghanistan and I had just finished singing with the praise team. It was the end of service and an older woman that I had never met before came up to me and began to prophesy. She told me that God was going to use me to minister to women around the world. She told me not to worry about the trials and tribulations I was facing because God would get the glory out of it all and He would use my testimony to bless others. I woke up from my dream and was reminded that the dream was a memory of something that occurred in 2012. Crazy enough it was during the time that I was going through my first divorce. This woman had no knowledge of what I had going on because she was a complete stranger. It was such a tumultuous time in my life and one that brought me to my lowest of lows. I was at a point that I had abandoned my relationship with Christ, my marriage failed as a result of this, and I was in that chapel singing because looking up to God as my help was the only thing giving me strength to go on. Let’s fast-forward to just a few months ago. I finally made a decision to put away all excuses, and to depend on God to grant provision for the blog. He gave me the names of five individuals and told me that I would not be doing this kingdom project alone. There was a sigh of relief when He let me know this and still a bit of hesitancy because my next question was , would each of these women say yes to being a part of this?!? I reached out, one by one and to my delight, my Aarons said yes! Moses had a speech issue and this was one of the reasons he gave God for why he was not qualified to do what God called him to do. Aaron was assigned by God to assist Moses as he communicated with Pharaoh about letting his people go. God always grants provision for you to walk in His purpose!

Platform = A raised level or surface where people can stand.

Purpose = The reason for which something is created.

God often calls us to a purpose that exceeds where we currently stand. There is more that He requires of us! You love God? You want to serve Him? How can you put that passion into action?!?! We are created to bring Him glory. We must step back out of our emotions and we must step back and silence the lies of inadequacy. Only then, are we able to step into what God has truly purposed for us to do. I say again, If God called you to it, He will grace you to do it. He will use those ugly moments in our lives to be a beautiful testimony of His faithfulness to be with us, no matter what we face. He is faithful to provide all that we need to accomplish His purpose, rather it be in the form of the people that He sends, unmerited favor, or financial blessings. He will PROVIDE for you, as you walk in what He has purposed you to do!!! So start that blog, start that business, write that book, launch that You Tube channel, start that ministry and any anything else that God has told you to do. Find creative ways and seek opportunities to share your testimony , share the good news ( the Gospel) , and share about the goodness of the God we serve. I rejoice in advance for the manifestation and birth of the purpose, He has planted in you!

 “Being fully persuaded that God has power to do what he has promised.”- Romans 4:21-