Recently I have really felt blessed, humbled and deeply loved by the Lord and how he has used friends and even complete strangers to bless me and my family. I have been believing for months for the Lord to make a way for me to go back home to VA and visit my family and friends. Don't get
me wrong, I absolutely love Colorado but I feel like a piece of my heart is still in VA. I wanted to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and neither of those worked out. So, I have been waiting and hopefully expecting the Lord to make a way and lo and behold he has! Without going into a bunch of details, the Lord made a way not only for me to fly home, but for my boys to come with me free of charge! God really does give us the desires of our hearts and truly does care about what we care about! Nothing is impossible with God, especially when we trust him, believe his word, stand on his promises and expect to see his goodness in our lives!
As if that wasn't enough, today he used a complete stranger to humble me and melt my heart. While in the check out line at Target picking up some milk and a couple things I needed, I told the boys they could each pick out one piece of candy. We were waiting for the woman in front of me to check out so we had a little time. Then it was my turn, with an impatient man standing behind me, looking at the boys who were still trying to decide, then looking at me with that tone of voice in his facial expressions as if to say "Listen lady, I'm in a hurry, so can we hurry it up here?!" I told them to hurry up because I had to pay right now! Josiah picked his out, handed it to me, but Micah was still trying to decide....and Mr. Wonderful behind me was now giving me the stank eye, huffing and puffing and rolling his eyes. So, I did what I had to do and payed for Josiah's candy, only! As soon as the cashier handed me the receipt, Micah came up
To me with his candy, at which point I told him it was too late and he couldn't get it. He started crying and was so upset, not like throwing a fit upset, but his heart was broken kind of crying. i tried to explain the situation, the guy behind me was rushing me along and that he had plenty of opportunity to pick something out. Just as we got into the car and buckled up, a guy came up to the car and knocked on the window. He was behind Mr. Wonderful in the line and saw the whole situation. He decided to buy Micah the candy he had picked out and told me "I saw how hard he was trying to decide!" I was completely humbled and couldn't believe a complete stranger cared enough about my son to buy him a piece of candy. Insignificant and such a small thing in the grand scheme of life, but something at the moment that showed my son someone cared, and showed me once again that God cares about the smallest details, every desire, and will use anybody who is a willing vessel to bless us.
The point of all of this is to say that it has really made me want to be more conscious and aware of ways I can be used by the Lord to bless others, even if it's in a small way. God blesses us not so we can hoard material possessions and be selfish, but so we can in turn be a blessing to others and be the light of Christ and show his love to the world. Jesus came to serve and not be served, and it truly is better to give than to receive! Maybe if we slowed down long enough to see the needs of others, we could not only be a blessing to them, but find true fulfillment and joy ourselves!!
This blog was created to challenge our way of thinking, the way we perceive things, and to ultimately point us towards God. In reading my blog, I challenge you to step outside of your normal way of thinking, expect to see the goodnes of God, to possibly see things in a new light, and to not be limited to our own perceptions.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
"Can We Please Go Find Some Darkness Now?"
Last night my husband and I were laying in bed watching the Passion 2012 conference online. If you have never heard the music or speakers from the conferences, you are missing out! Last night, they had a guest speaker on that I have heard of before, but had never actually heard her speak. Christine Caine was the speaker and she said something that really got me thinking. I suddenly had an "aha" moment. She told a story of how her daughter had really wanted a Barbie flash light, so she took her to Wal-Mart to get one. While at the register, her daughter turned on the flashlight but the light couldn't be seen clearly because of all the other lights already shining in Wal-Mart. She then tugged on her mommy and said "Mommy, can we please go find some darkness now?" Right then, I got it!
We are suppose to be "the light of the world, a city on a hill" (Matthew 5:14), but are we really being lights to the world? We are called to go into the dark places and be lights, for in the darkness is only where the light can shine through and be seen. I feel that most of us are like the flashlight in WalMart...we are shining, but no one can see us because everyone else around us is shining too. We have become so comfortable and complacent in our church circles and groups of Christian friends, that we have created a "bubble", surrounding ourselves with like-minded people that our lights are dim, or even nonexistent, to the rest of the world around us. I am in no way saying we shouldn't have like-minded people around us, but what I am saying is that we have got to get out of our bubble of friends, family members, places that feel safe and comfortable if we ever want to reach a dying world, help set captives free, and save those who are lost.
Andrew Wommack often says that "we are all called to be salt to the earth; the only problem is nobody wants to get out of the salt shaker!" Once again going back to the fact that we have not only got be willing, but we have to actually act upon what God is calling us to do, and just get out there! Millions of people are lost, dying, broken, poor in spirit, addicted, and wasting away in every sense of the word, and to be quite honest, most of us don't even care because we are too comfortable with where we are, what we have, we don't want to be inconvenienced, and we think it should be someone else's job to help them. I honestly don't understand why we fight so hard to stay where we are with all our "stuff," remaining stagnant, having no real power, authority or victory in our own lives, when we would find so much more fulfillment in meeting the needs of and serving others!
Matthew 6: 19-20 says Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."
All the "stuff" we try to accumulate, impress ourselves or other people with are eventually either going to be thrown away, given away later, or will simply rot because of the natural process of this earth. Why do we feel the need to accumulate and hold on to things that we can't take with us when we leave this earth, and put off the very one's that are literally rotting away inside, who may never make it to eternity with God? Are people's lives really not as important to us as our "stuff"? That's essentially what we are saying when we refuse to be the light in the dark places, and when we refuse to reach out to a lost and dying world. If we don't go into the darkness, and we aren't being lights to them, who will? You may be the only light someone in this world may ever see! I don't want to live with a guilty conscience, knowing there was so much more I could've done with my life and time here on this earth, and that I just let it all waste away, having no real meaning or value, and that there were dying people all around me and I was too selfish and stubborn to do anything about it. We all want to hear the Lord say to us "Well done my good and faithful servant," but what will we have done with what we were given on this earth to actually deserve to hear those words? Some words to think about....
We are suppose to be "the light of the world, a city on a hill" (Matthew 5:14), but are we really being lights to the world? We are called to go into the dark places and be lights, for in the darkness is only where the light can shine through and be seen. I feel that most of us are like the flashlight in WalMart...we are shining, but no one can see us because everyone else around us is shining too. We have become so comfortable and complacent in our church circles and groups of Christian friends, that we have created a "bubble", surrounding ourselves with like-minded people that our lights are dim, or even nonexistent, to the rest of the world around us. I am in no way saying we shouldn't have like-minded people around us, but what I am saying is that we have got to get out of our bubble of friends, family members, places that feel safe and comfortable if we ever want to reach a dying world, help set captives free, and save those who are lost.
Andrew Wommack often says that "we are all called to be salt to the earth; the only problem is nobody wants to get out of the salt shaker!" Once again going back to the fact that we have not only got be willing, but we have to actually act upon what God is calling us to do, and just get out there! Millions of people are lost, dying, broken, poor in spirit, addicted, and wasting away in every sense of the word, and to be quite honest, most of us don't even care because we are too comfortable with where we are, what we have, we don't want to be inconvenienced, and we think it should be someone else's job to help them. I honestly don't understand why we fight so hard to stay where we are with all our "stuff," remaining stagnant, having no real power, authority or victory in our own lives, when we would find so much more fulfillment in meeting the needs of and serving others!
Matthew 6: 19-20 says Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."
All the "stuff" we try to accumulate, impress ourselves or other people with are eventually either going to be thrown away, given away later, or will simply rot because of the natural process of this earth. Why do we feel the need to accumulate and hold on to things that we can't take with us when we leave this earth, and put off the very one's that are literally rotting away inside, who may never make it to eternity with God? Are people's lives really not as important to us as our "stuff"? That's essentially what we are saying when we refuse to be the light in the dark places, and when we refuse to reach out to a lost and dying world. If we don't go into the darkness, and we aren't being lights to them, who will? You may be the only light someone in this world may ever see! I don't want to live with a guilty conscience, knowing there was so much more I could've done with my life and time here on this earth, and that I just let it all waste away, having no real meaning or value, and that there were dying people all around me and I was too selfish and stubborn to do anything about it. We all want to hear the Lord say to us "Well done my good and faithful servant," but what will we have done with what we were given on this earth to actually deserve to hear those words? Some words to think about....
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