Refreshed by Simple Words

Last night my 3 year old, Dash, asked me to read to him from "Jesus Wants All of Me". It's written for 3-7 year olds, but is based on "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers, which is one of my favorite devotional books. These short and simple readings were so refreshing to me...and my tired brain!

Here are two of them:

Wanted!
Did God use me? Good! I will thank Him. But I must never forget that God can use anyone. He can use a donkey. He can use a king! What really matters is that Jesus wants me. He loves me!

I'm Listening Now
Am I listening for God's voice? Or am I listening for my own? I would love to do big things. And maybe I will. But is God really shouting, "Go and do big things"? Or is He simply whispering, "Come to Me"?

Both of those were so good for me to read.

I was humbled by the reminder that God can use anyone or anything...even a donkey :) When He uses me, I can simply thank Him. That's it. Thanksgiving.

Also, I have to be careful never to begin endeavors with the thought that I will "do something big", even if it's "for God". I must always start with coming to Him. In fact, that's the beginning, middle, and end. Anything "great" that comes out of me, is simply because I am communing with Him! I don't want to forget that.

It's good for me to recognize that I don't always know how or when God is using me...and that's probably a good thing. The more I get my eyes off of myself, the better. However, at times He gives me a glimpse of how He is working through me, when He knows I need the encouragement. His ways and timing are perfect.

I Can't Make Them Grow

One day I helped my kids prepare pinto beans, so that over time they could watch them sprout. I even had the exact same cute little spice jars that were pictured in the book for this experiment. I wet some paper towels and neatly folded them (myself) before giving them to the kids. I helped them place a few beans in their jars so they were just right.

About an hour later, my three year old accidentally broke his jar on the concrete patio. I decided to give him a plastic baggie instead. I let him stick a damp, wadded up paper towel in there with the beans, and let him run with it. You know what happened? His sprouted the most beautifully. Some of the others' actually got moldy, and didn't shoot out like his.

When it comes to parenting, I need to surrender any attempt I may have to control. I cannot control my children or how they will "turn out". I can plant seeds through words and actions. I can water them with prayer. Only He can make them grow.

I don't want to let my godly desires, turn into a desire to play God.

My heart genuinely wants to train them in His wonderful ways, read them scripture, memorize verses with them, and pray for them. I know this will bless them...but it won't save them. When I subconsciously start to play God, my motivation shifts from faith to fear. My actions may be similar, but what's driving me is the complete opposite from what God desires.

My attempt to do things "perfectly" actually hinders me...and others. Instead of trying to do everything perfectly, I just need to recognize the One who is perfect. Recognize that if I seek first His kingdom, He will provide all that I need. I can dive in to what He has for me - unafraid and unhindered.

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."
~ 1 Corinthians 3:7 ESV

Seeing Him

It's interesting how when we choose to focus on seeing a particular thing, it becomes so prevalent. I never realized how many yellow cars there were until recently, when my kids started playing "Yellow Car". Whenever one of them sees a yellow car, they yell "yellow car", and get a point. At the end of a car ride, whoever has the most points wins. In the beginning it was just on an occasional car ride. Then it became every car ride. Now they can be in the house and if they see one out the window they automatically shout "yellow car". It's become automatic. And now even my husband and I are saying "yellow car".

It's easy to let myself be overwhelmed with fear and anxiety when I look at the state of this world...if I focus on horrible things without considering God. However, when I contemplate the awesomeness of the God who created this planet, and that He is alive and at work here, His peace calms my worried heart. I am able to see things differently. I begin to see Him at work all around me. I want to practice recognizing Him, until it becomes automatic. I want to trust Him with today, and with all of the tomorrows. That is where this poem came from.

Seeing Him
Whatever I set my mind to see,
Will be the lens, through which I view reality.

Am I looking for evil, wickedness and strife?
It's quite easy to find, there's so much of it in this life.

There's also beauty, gifts and grace.
If I choose to look, I see the love of God also filling this place.

He has written His own incredible story,
One filled with love, redemption and glory.

I won't hear Him mentioned in broadcasts on the news,
He's not part of the peoples' different point of views.

I will choose to meditate on the truth of His book,
It's living and active and the place I must look.

It's there He reminds me of His ultimate plan,
To redeem and restore His people and land.

The details of my future, don't need to be known for me to be ready,
It is He who will prepare me, my Rock who keeps me steady.

He knows everything that is coming my way,
Whatever it is, in His presence I will stay.

That is where perfect peace will abound,
In Him, all grace I need is found.

(Rachel Ranae 10.23.13)

One Drop at a Time

"Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over." ~ Paul J. Meyer

It's a great quote. It's true. And with so many distractions at our fingertips, it's extremely easy to do. I want to be very intentional and present in my relationships, and whatever work God has for me to accomplish.

However, when I first read that quote, I felt a bit anxious. There's a part of me, or perhaps an enemy, that often whispers "failure". I am never doing things well enough. Even if I am doing really well in one area, I see the other places where I fall short...self-condemnation begins. I'm tired of it. It really is exhausting to the soul.

All of the sudden, I thought of how this quote could be flipped! Think of all the ways I'm filling buckets...one drop at a time. Yes! I am. I know I am. It's the little every day moments, the ordinary tasks that I am participating in, that are building up to a life well lived.

I greet my kids with a smile in the morning. I try to look them in the eyes whenever they talk to me. I read to them. I laugh with them. I tie shoes, make snacks, fold clothes, fill cups...

The only way any of these will FILL, is if I have JOY. My kids won't remember what I did for them, but they will remember how I made them feel.

These ordinary tasks can be opportunities to express love, if I can do them with joy. I can't look at them as interruptions to my life. Otherwise, it will be "wasted time". These ordinary moments are opportunities, and they are all around me...at my fingertips.

I came across these two quotes later that same week...perfect.

"Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean, and the pleasant land..." ~ Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney
 
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am temped to think there are no little things." ~ Bruce Barton

I don't need to strive through the mundane. I can choose to see the beauty in all those simple moments added together.
If ever I can love, I'm living life to the full. That's why I exist. I live to love. My life won't be wasted!

A Cicada Emerges. Hope Rises.

Yesterday the kids and I watched a cicada emerge out of it's shell. I know they're kind of ugly looking things, but the process is absolutely amazing! While we were playing outside, we kept running back to it's place on the wall, to see it's progress.

When the first half breaks through, the wings look like tiny shriveled clumps. Gradually they expand. When they are fully stretched, they look like large, translucent shields. Gorgeous veins run through to the tips.


About an hour later, we checked on it again. It was still there...clinging to it's old shell. This image struck me funny. A being who has large, perfect wings...clinging to it's lifeless old self. I immediately thought of the verse, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

I actually got excited. I felt hope rush through me. I've been made new! The places where I feel stuck, where I'm trying to change myself, it's not going to happen if I'm clinging to my old self. It's only going to happen if I choose to believe my Creator.  
Do I believe the wings he gave me actually work or not?

This is a GREAT promise...
His divine power has granted to me all things that pertain to life and godliness...by which He has granted to me His precious and very great promises, so that through them I may become a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.    (adapted from 2 Peter 1:3,4 ESV)

I can partake of the DIVINE nature through His promises! I can live supernaturally! I want to live in the power He has granted me.

Faith is believing Him. If I can trust Him...believe that He keeps His promises...then I can let go of myself. I can live differently. I can fly.

Undaunted

I hope that God will use these words to stir up love and good works in your heart (Heb. 10:24).

(If receiving this via email, click on the title of this post to view the video.)


I haven't read her book, but it sounds good. Here's a link to it: Undaunted

The Impossible Life

I don't want to plan my life according to "my abilities". I want to continually follow Jesus into the unknown, unfamiliar paths, living by faith. He is strong in my weaknesses. He is glorified abundantly in the impossible. He delights in using "the least".

The more inadequate I am, the nearer I'm drawn to Him. I see the frailness of my humanity and the awesome immeasurable power of the Almighty God. He is my Father who is intimately acquainted with the details of my little life, aware of everything. There have been times when He seemed to be deaf to my cry. But then, in His perfect timing, He revealed Himself. Powerfully. Undeniably. Not because I'm important, but because He is that awesome. I don't doubt Him anymore. I try not to limit Him in my life.

That's why I don't want to put restrictions on His plans for me...live according to my abilities and strengths. His power is made perfect in weakness. The more "impossible" my life becomes, the more I recognize His hand in it. I don't want to shy away from His plans for me. Fear will have to flee!

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

(Photo credit: Rachel Ranae)