fit – KARLA LEES

when you don’t quite have the best fit

October 17, 2015October 17, 2015 Karla Lees

For the past few years, I have struggled to find the best fit for myself in a pair of jeans. I have more padding than I would like in my ab area, with a literal vs visual tush (basically flat) and fairly skinny legs.

I have curves in the wrong places for the trendy type of pants that are usually the easiest to find when looking for jeans.

Either I find a pair (my previous best fit) of skinny ones with a midrise and have sag beneath my tush, or find a great tush fit with wide wide legs and difficulty breathing (not an option for great quality of life).

Because I am also between sizes, and am over 5’8″ tall, this combination has made it very hard to find my best fit.

Until last Saturday.

I happened to be at the mall with a girl friend, and we decided to poke in a new store that we can across there.

And on a mannequin on the top shelf above their jeans, were my dream jeans.

Ladies, you know what i mean. The pair you just know that you know are going to be a perfect fit for you.

And guess what? After 5 different styles of jeans, guess which pair I ended up with?!

MY perfect fit.

So why I am sharing about finding the perfect fit of jeans?

Because just as the widow got justice from the earthly judge she kept going to day after day after day (Luke 18), committing to get your answer when you are looking for your best fit is possible.

And God encourages us to do so.

He wants us to know what we are passionate about, then pursue Him until we learn and can see where our best fit is.

I have known for years that I am not an average puzzle piece. I don’t fit with everybody else fits & talent wise. I am custom designed to be a part of the puzzle, but in the exact place I am meant to fill.

I am made for my perfect fit. Just as you are.

Now, I am not saying that we aren’t to serve or work outside of our passion. I am saying that God knows where we are to be the perfect fit for what He has planned for His KIngdom, and He chooses to use us uniquely shaped people to fill in the right places for His blessings to flow.

Because if your barista is meant to serve people, they will greet you with a smile, learn your name and get your order right.

Your kids’ babysitter, child care provider or teacher will celebrate your child’s successes, and inspire them to be the best they can be.

Your pastor will learn your name, pray for you, encourage you to find your place in the body you belong to.

Your mechanic will care that you are stressed out by your sudden car repair, and get how you need you need it fixed and fast.

Your doctor will take the time to explain and listen to you during your visit, without making you feel like just a number in line.

But put someone designed to be a mechanic in your local coffee shop as a barista? Or a ballerina in as your pastor? Or a rock star as a grocery teller?

Not the best fit for their skill set, even though they might get the job done.

And if you don’t know yourself the way God has designed you to best fit, you can spend a lot of time and energy pursuing the wrong paths.

If you are looking for your best fit?
Where you are meant to release His Kingdom with your gifts & talents?

Ask Him.

He knows when and where you are to be.

He knows how and why.

He knows if it meant to be you or someone else.

I was in a job I did well in, but not the best fit for me. I asked God to make it quite clear if I was to stay or go, and He did.

We were attending a church where we loved the people, but after many years, staff changes and most of our friends moving on, we needed to ask God if we were to stay or to go, and He did. We are now in a better fit for all four of our giftings in our family.

Again, I am not advocating change for change sake, nor recommending one church over another. We are one Body.

But the church around the corner might need your gifts, and the church you are currently in doesn’t. Because it isn’t your best fit.

You might be better suited to go to another country and use your gifts there versus in your local community. Because that may be your best fit.

God may want you to be the first parent in your family line to stay at home and raise your children instead of working full time out of your home.

You may be meant to minister in word, song, prayer, encouragement, healing or teaching.

And you may not have figured out where He wants you yet as you are so busy doing, you haven’t set aside the time to sit at His feet and listen.

In order to find the perfect fit, you have to be actively seeking it.

If you, like me, have forgotten who He made you to be and need to rediscover yourself, i would like to suggest a few things to help you along the journey:

1. Do a spiritual gifts assessment. Answer honestly, and you may be surprised by the result. Something you may have thought of as not relevant may be part of how He points you to your best fit. The thumbnail is the best one I have ever done, and have actually taught.

2. Discover your love language. Visit the 5 Love Languages website, and learn how you best receive love. This definitely impacts how you feel you fit.

3. Direct Revelation: Pray, worship, journal, read the Word. Spend quality time at His feet, and ask Holy Spirit to bring you revelation, and speak to you about where He wants you to serve to give Him the most glory. This may change over seasons in your life, but with Him as your guide, you will stay on course.

4. Don’t give up! Keep listening, seeking confirmation and His direction. He may have someone as you to do something you have never done before, and your spirit comes alive as you do.

How did you find your best fit? I just love how God speaks to each of us in just the right way we need to hear Him!

birds of a feather

June 11, 2015June 10, 2015 Karla Lees

I always related to the ugly duckling as a child, and honestly, still as an adult.

Not because I think I am exceptionally ugly (surface beauty is in the eye of the beholder…) but because I have always felt on the outside looking in. A misfit. A round peg trying to fit in square holes.

I have felt that way at times in my relationships, my jobs, in ministry & at church.

And then in an email that arrived last night, I realized why I didn’t fit with the rest of the lovely ducks in the pond around me.

I’m a songbird. 🙂

Silly goose!

Laughter aside, I was trying to make myself fit into a mold I was never designed to fit.

I am both a trailblazer and a companion in my giftings. A mentor, leader & supporter all rolled into one.

I tend to flock with the other birds also seeking their right fit.

And that is okay with God.

Coz its how He designed me.

With that email yesterday?

I realized that I have four fellow chicks I am meant to flock with. To support when one moves into the lead, to be alongside to help break the winds and offer relief when needed. To all jointly pull in one direction, yet as individuals each doing our part.

That I am not alone.

Just as the foremost goose in the front of the flock rotates when their wings get tired, I am meant to be part of a team, not on my own.

And like the other geese, we all have separate backgrounds & nests which make us uniquely qualified to separately share, becoming amplified when we join as the Bride to share His Words & Love to the beloved who don’t yet know the depths of His heart.

He makes us somehow even more when we are together than our sole efforts on our own.

We live in five different areas over a few time zones. Some have older kids, some younger. A few have obvious scars, others are more hidden.

We all have an intentional pursuit of His Presence, insatiable desire for His Word and longing to hear His voice over all.

Like geese, we know we need God to be the strength allowing us to fly despite the headwinds against us. We know we were meant to be united in fellowship, tight flock formation despite our differences.

We may not always be completely understood in our home ponds, but as birds of a feather united together for His Kingdom, we are being blessed.

My desire is for God to help each of us find our main voice as daughters of the King, writing for His Kingdom and His glory.

When God unites our hearts, we can’t wait to flock together. 🙂

PS. I am blessed to have both local flocks of chicks, and a international flock. This post specifically refers to my fellow writing chicks: Beth, Brandi, Kate, Jaime.

May we become the Song He longs for us to sing in harmony for His glory.

PPS. My “local” flock of chicks know how much I value & appreciate their love through the swells, valleys & storms. I regularly try to let them know how much I treasure them, more than words, and flock together whenever we can. You know who you are, sisters! xo

freedom in belonging

January 20, 2015January 20, 2015 Karla Lees

When you know where you belong, you open up a freedom you may not have known you needed, let alone wanted.

I was always on the outside looking in, I felt, as I was growing up. A fish out of water, or a black sheep standing in sharp contrast to the flock of white ones in the same field.

You know how you just can’t put your finger on that nagging difference or missing part, and that thought sticks with you until you can resolve it?

Kind of like that, a piece looking for the rest of its pizzle.

That reality whispered into the recesses of my mind fairly regularly as I grew up. It took on a whole new aspect when I moved to Quebec, and came back to Ontario six years later fluent in French to a small town that was filled with almost anyone but another French speaking person unless they were a teacher!

So through primary school into middle school into high school, this feeling I don’t quite fit continued to hang around…unless I was singing, playing an instrument or writing. Even so, I played almost anything I touched, which spoke to my giftedness but isn’t as common in a small town.
I read ferociously, loved to learn, wore glasses and suffered through 3 years of retainers and 4 years of braces. I made friends, especially with fellow musicians & artsies…but still felt like a misfit. I was sensitive, but not sure why.

When it came time to head to university, I felt I wasn’t ready for “it” yet, so I headed to a differently structured high school for a year, and discovered something shocking.

At this school, I first experienced feeling like i fit. The structure and classes and fellow students- 90% made for me. I began to hope that after high school, I could find my place in this world. Closer to where I was meant to be.

But getting to know yourself better doesn’t necessarily help you belong.

I spent a few years wandering after high school. Unsure of what I wanted to do because I didn’t know yet who I was.

Then I met Jesus, and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

I have a few gifts that are not as common, and one of the “side effects” is feeling set apart. Like all of us, I am hardwired to hear God’s voice. For me, at times, quite clearly. The Word shares how this is known as the prophetic. Which ties with that sensitive feeling I had struggled to come to grips with.

And in the bible, most of them were known as being “odd or misfits.” They didn’t quite fit, having one foot in the heavenly places with God, and the other here on the earth.

When you tell people you made a decision based on God’s telling you to go that way, you tend to be looked at funny, and avoided by those who don’t know what to do with you as a result.

The prophetic can be a lonely place to be, just you and God.

But here’s the thing.

I found my place after those years of searching:

I belong to God.

What a price He paid for me, to buy me out of my broken, lonely, lost in the pit of my despair. He set my feed upon solid rock, whispered words of love, and clothes me in fresh white forever robes, naming me Beloved Daughter of the King.

I belong to Him, with every fibre that’s within me.

But I also belong with Him.

Spending time in His Presence reminds me that though I walk on this earth, it is not where I belong. My place is heavenly, in the courts of my King, in the arms of Jesus.

For now, I need the constant reminder of Spirit whispers, reminding me who I am to Him.

So although I have a great family, wonderful church & friends, good jobs- I don’t belong here. I never really did, for He designed us to be with Him.

So whether I feel like I fit is no longer relevant.

My heart is already tied to His, and wherever He is, that’s where I belong.

Home is where the heart is.
You have my heart, God.
And one day
You will welcome me home
forever, and I will live
where I have longed to be,
eternally where I belong!