Inspirational Stories- Vision

'Granny graduate' an inspiration to all’
“She's been dubbed the granny graduate, but University of Auckland graduate Jennie Oakley says she has more to achieve yet.
The 71-year-old grandmother of three was the oldest graduate to
walk down Queen St this week, capped with a Masters in History.
Mrs Oakley already holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts
Honours degree after first enrolling as a university student as a 62-year-old.
She trained as a nurse after leaving school as an 18-year-old in 1956, before marrying her husband David when she was 20.
After "fluffing around" with the idea of going to university for
years, she said finally deciding to do so was one of the best decisions she has ever made.
"It was one of those thoughts like: 'Yes, one day I would like to go to
university - and the cows might fly'.
"But then when I finally got here, I just adored it. I was wearing
jeans and shirts just like all the other 18-year-olds. I was just Jennie to them, absolutely equal, and I loved it."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10643864

What a remarkable achievement! Jennie became a graduate at 71. It is no mean feat. At an age when most people have retired and marking time, waiting for the grim ripper, Jennie was still burning the mid-night oil for a ‘golden fleece ‘or garland?

When you get older you sleep less, they say, but instead of waking up and moaning of aces here and there, Jennie used the time to study for her Masters degree. It was her dream, her ambition, her drive her purpose and she achieved it.

This is why it is vital to have a vision in life that will drive you, propel you, give you reason for living; wake you up early in the morning and keep you late at night.
Jennie no doubt is an inspiration for us all especially the older ones who have a vision but who have hit the brick wall so hard that they are thinking of giving up. She is an inspiration to younger people who think they are too old (even though much younger than Jennie) to achieve their purpose in life.
Having said all that, do you know you can achieve a dream in life which is success in the es of the world and in your eyes and yet be a total failure in the eyes of God if you have not achieved the purpose for which He made you?

God had a purpose for Paul
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Acts26:16

Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Acts27:19

Paul found, followed and finished his purpose in life.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 2Tim7:4

God has a purpose in all that He does

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Eccle3:1

We are called according to His purpose

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom.8:28

Joseph recognized His purpose and fulfilled it
⁵Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

⁶For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.

⁷And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

⁸So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Gen 45:5-8
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Gen 50:20

Jesus recognized His purpose and fulfilled it
have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. John17:4

³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30

Esther fulfilled her purpose – to prevent the first holocaust.

³And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. Esther4:3

¹³Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.

¹⁴For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

¹⁵Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

¹⁶Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
Esther413-16
We know that Esther’s was bold to approach the king and so doing averted the massacre of the Jews.

Samson n the other hand did not fulfil the vision for his life. He was to deliver his people from bondage but he failed to do so.

What a sobering thought that it may be possible for you to be acclaimed by the world as an inventor, celebrated as a Nobel Peace prize winner (your name entered in the Guinness Book of records) and yet be a failure before God.

I pray that every reader will find their purpose, pursue that purpose and fulfil it. I n Jesus name. Amen.