Today I was driving to church and the fog was so dense, I could barely see the car in front of me let alone the road ahead. I had driven the same road before so I could predict where the exit was on the highway without needing to see the exit sign. While I was driving I was just so thankful I have been on this road before. If I was in a new town trying to follow someone's directions I would be so lost! The signs for roads were visible only after I was passing them.
Today at church we talked about taking risks and stepping out in faith. Doing things just because God asks us is so much harder when we can't see the road or the street signs. Sometimes stepping out in faith is like driving in fog. We can see a little bit of road directly in front of us and we can choose to follow the tail lights of a car leading the way, but it makes us feel nervous in unfamiliar areas.
I feel like I am driving in a fog right now with my future. Thankfully God is the car in front of me and I am turning when God turns and braking when I see the tail lights ahead of me brake. Just because I know he is in front of me does not mean that I am not scared. I can't see the future or where I will end up. I was obedient to apply to law school when God asked me to, but now I have to wait weeks for any kind of answer. I have no idea how I will pay for law school or even my internship that begins in two months.
All I can do is follow the lights in front of me. I can't pass and try and lead the way (like I usually try to do) because then I will really be lost. God promises to take care of us on our journey "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
God never says that the weather will always be sunny or a complete storm will fall on us, sometimes we are just in a fog. God is reminding us that he is in control and as long as we keep our eyes on him he will lead us to where we need to be, even if that is not where we originally thought the journey was taking us.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Walking to tear down walls
Following God doesn't always look the way we thought it would. Today I was reading Joshua 6, and the story basically is about how this hero Joshua leads his people to a crushing (literally) defeat of Jericho. Now there is a slight twist in this story, Joshua's people didn't fight or use any tools/ weapons to get into the impenetrable city.
Jericho was the biggest baddest place around, it had huge walls and no one was aloud in or out. God came to Joshua and told him that he would defeat Jericho, but it was in an unusual way. God actually asked Joshua to walk around the city every day for six days, then on the seventh day walk around the city seven times and scream. Then, the angel of the Lord said the city will crumble and be yours.
Now if I was receiving these instructions I would probably laugh. God, how can walking destroy a city? How can screaming tear down brick walls? Joshua didn't ask any questions though, he was obedient without the "how".
I feel like God has called me to some amazing things like International Justice Mission (IJM) and law school, but I can't see the how. I feel like God is asking me to just walk in circles for no reason. I don't understand why this is happening or how things can get done without me making things happen.
If I was in Joshua's army I would worry that I wasn't doing enough. If God really told us we would take Jericho than we should start striking the wall with weapons and fighting till the last breath to get to where God wants us to be, but that would still be doing things my way.
I try to listen to God and as soon as I hear the first thing he wants me to do, I do it full strength. I think God loves that about our faith when we are willing to do everything to get to his plan for us, but we also need to remember it is still His plan. Law school and an internship in DC was never a part of my plan, so when God let me in on the secret I started planning how I would do what God wants for me.Don't get me wrong, it is great to dream, but we also need to be obedient when God is asking us to do little things that may not make an instant impact on our dreams.
Joshua walked around the wall for six days, I wonder if he was looking for a crack in the wall with every step he took. I wonder if he wanted God to explain how walking could contribute to the demise of a city. Maybe each step put pressure on some platelet underneath the city and the magnetic force would.... or maybe God just wanted Joshua to be obedient and show both armies His power.
Right now I am in my "six days". I feel like God has called me to a Jericho but I can't get inside the walls yet. I worry about the finances and where I will live, I worry about the applications and the personal statements, but the truth is I can't do this my way. I need to listen to what God is asking me to do. I still need to take action, but the action might be waiting and praying for God to do a miracle.
God has called all of us to amazing things and he knows the best way for us to reach what we are looking for. We just need to surrender our ways to God. Even if that means walking for a while and seeing no progress, we never know when the day will come when God will tell us to scream and the walls will fall down.
Jericho was the biggest baddest place around, it had huge walls and no one was aloud in or out. God came to Joshua and told him that he would defeat Jericho, but it was in an unusual way. God actually asked Joshua to walk around the city every day for six days, then on the seventh day walk around the city seven times and scream. Then, the angel of the Lord said the city will crumble and be yours.
Now if I was receiving these instructions I would probably laugh. God, how can walking destroy a city? How can screaming tear down brick walls? Joshua didn't ask any questions though, he was obedient without the "how".
I feel like God has called me to some amazing things like International Justice Mission (IJM) and law school, but I can't see the how. I feel like God is asking me to just walk in circles for no reason. I don't understand why this is happening or how things can get done without me making things happen.
If I was in Joshua's army I would worry that I wasn't doing enough. If God really told us we would take Jericho than we should start striking the wall with weapons and fighting till the last breath to get to where God wants us to be, but that would still be doing things my way.
I try to listen to God and as soon as I hear the first thing he wants me to do, I do it full strength. I think God loves that about our faith when we are willing to do everything to get to his plan for us, but we also need to remember it is still His plan. Law school and an internship in DC was never a part of my plan, so when God let me in on the secret I started planning how I would do what God wants for me.Don't get me wrong, it is great to dream, but we also need to be obedient when God is asking us to do little things that may not make an instant impact on our dreams.
Joshua walked around the wall for six days, I wonder if he was looking for a crack in the wall with every step he took. I wonder if he wanted God to explain how walking could contribute to the demise of a city. Maybe each step put pressure on some platelet underneath the city and the magnetic force would.... or maybe God just wanted Joshua to be obedient and show both armies His power.
Right now I am in my "six days". I feel like God has called me to a Jericho but I can't get inside the walls yet. I worry about the finances and where I will live, I worry about the applications and the personal statements, but the truth is I can't do this my way. I need to listen to what God is asking me to do. I still need to take action, but the action might be waiting and praying for God to do a miracle.
God has called all of us to amazing things and he knows the best way for us to reach what we are looking for. We just need to surrender our ways to God. Even if that means walking for a while and seeing no progress, we never know when the day will come when God will tell us to scream and the walls will fall down.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
The Ultimate Surgeon
Mark 2:17 says "On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.'"
I am sure many people have heard this verse, but have you ever really thought about it. I was thinking about this verse and instantly thought of Grey's Anatomy (just me, okay good), anyways on a more relevant note I started thinking about how Jesus did come as a surgeon. Not just for the body, but for the mind and spirit.
So this lead me to start thinking about how a surgeon operates. The surgeon never forces anyone to have surgery, he or she simply tells the person why they are feeling sick and that if they don't have the surgery they will get worse. The surgery is long and the recovery process will be hard and painful, but the thing inside of you is killing you. Surgeons are experienced and have a lot more medical knowledge than most of us combined, but surgery is still a scary thing.
This is how I feel like God operates. The bible is kind of like Web MD (maybe slightly more accurate) in giving you the symptoms of what is healthy and what makes you sick. Once we begin feeling sick we check our handy-dandy Bible and "type in our symptoms". Symptoms for today could be a bit of jealous, maybe a little pride and just a dab of lust. You search the results and find out what you have is terminal and can only be fixed with surgery. The surgery has a 100% recover rate if the patient fallows all post-op instructions. We then have the chance to talk to the surgeon about it. God tells us that we can't keep any of the bad stuff inside. He needs to remove it all. Would you say yes to the surgery?
If we were honest I think some of us would still be really hesitant. I am not saying it is easy to sign over our lives to God, because it is not easy. He requires us to completely trust his surgical hands. I worry that when I get out of surgery I won't feel like myself, I worry he will take more than he said he would, I worry that the pain and recovery process will be to hard. Some of us have seen people go through the surgery and still end up terminal later in life, others have had the surgery before and felt mislead about the recovery process.
I need to remember that God is a better surgeon than any doctor on Grey's Anatomy. He always has a successful surgery. He never leaves our side to visit other patients. He doesn't even want us to pay him, all we have to do is live our lives according to the post-op instructions. It might sound easy to give God everything and sign up for the surgery, until he starts sharing some of the risks. We could lose some friends, might need to find some new places to hang out, or even be asked to move across the world to help others realize the need for surgery in their lives. But the risks never out way the rewards. The reward is life! God tells us that if we give him all our yucky stuff and let him heal us and make us new that we can have a full life with him.
A full life is never easy, but it is always worth it.
I am sure many people have heard this verse, but have you ever really thought about it. I was thinking about this verse and instantly thought of Grey's Anatomy (just me, okay good), anyways on a more relevant note I started thinking about how Jesus did come as a surgeon. Not just for the body, but for the mind and spirit.
So this lead me to start thinking about how a surgeon operates. The surgeon never forces anyone to have surgery, he or she simply tells the person why they are feeling sick and that if they don't have the surgery they will get worse. The surgery is long and the recovery process will be hard and painful, but the thing inside of you is killing you. Surgeons are experienced and have a lot more medical knowledge than most of us combined, but surgery is still a scary thing.
This is how I feel like God operates. The bible is kind of like Web MD (maybe slightly more accurate) in giving you the symptoms of what is healthy and what makes you sick. Once we begin feeling sick we check our handy-dandy Bible and "type in our symptoms". Symptoms for today could be a bit of jealous, maybe a little pride and just a dab of lust. You search the results and find out what you have is terminal and can only be fixed with surgery. The surgery has a 100% recover rate if the patient fallows all post-op instructions. We then have the chance to talk to the surgeon about it. God tells us that we can't keep any of the bad stuff inside. He needs to remove it all. Would you say yes to the surgery?
If we were honest I think some of us would still be really hesitant. I am not saying it is easy to sign over our lives to God, because it is not easy. He requires us to completely trust his surgical hands. I worry that when I get out of surgery I won't feel like myself, I worry he will take more than he said he would, I worry that the pain and recovery process will be to hard. Some of us have seen people go through the surgery and still end up terminal later in life, others have had the surgery before and felt mislead about the recovery process.
I need to remember that God is a better surgeon than any doctor on Grey's Anatomy. He always has a successful surgery. He never leaves our side to visit other patients. He doesn't even want us to pay him, all we have to do is live our lives according to the post-op instructions. It might sound easy to give God everything and sign up for the surgery, until he starts sharing some of the risks. We could lose some friends, might need to find some new places to hang out, or even be asked to move across the world to help others realize the need for surgery in their lives. But the risks never out way the rewards. The reward is life! God tells us that if we give him all our yucky stuff and let him heal us and make us new that we can have a full life with him.
A full life is never easy, but it is always worth it.
Friday, July 29, 2016
Don't put all your eggs in one basket, or maybe you should.
I'm sure most of us have heard the phrase "Don't put all your eggs in one basket", and in fact I knew generally what this meant but had never heard an official definition. So I decided to look up what exactly that phrase meant. Dictionary.com defines that phrase as "Don't concentrate all your prospects or resources in one thing or place, or you could lose everything." Well to be honest this was a much stronger definition than I thought. The idea that if you put too much of your resources into something you could literally lose everything.
But what about Faith.
What if God calls you to do something, should we continue to plan for our "plan B"? I am not advocating that we should never have a backup plan or that we should never plan things. However I am saying that I don't think faith needs a backup plan. When God really calls us to do something, he wants us to be all in. Not just our time, not just our money, not just our relationships, but all of it and more. God is asking us if we will put all of our hard earned eggs into his basket. Once the eggs leave our hands the what ifs start coming up. What if everything I am investing in is taken and I lose everything?
I guess my thought is how can we lose everything when we believe that God is our everything and since we can't lose him we can never lose everything (sorry some of my logical reasoning from studying for the LSAT is coming into my thinking lately).
Deuteronomy 31: 6 says "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Faith is a pretty scary thing, trust me I get that. Faith means that you are putting every single egg you have into Gods basket, his plan, and there is no way to know for sure... but God does promise that everything he does is to better us and not harm us. When I felt like God called me to law school I had no idea why he would do that, or how it would happen. Does he know how many loans I already have? Does he know that I am less qualified than almost any other applicant? Does he know how much it costs just to apply, let alone how much law school is? God why would you call me to something that bleeds me dry? The only answer I have to offer is faith. I have always trusted God and he has never let me down. All I can do is keep giving him my eggs.
Some people think I am crazy and ask me what I will do when this "law school thing" doesn't work out, they want to know what my plan B is. The truth is I don't have one. If for some reason Gods plan changes and I don't go, then I trust he will provide me with a different opportunity. All God asks of me right now is to do my best and put everything into what I think would please him. So I am. I am studying almost every day for a test that is in two more months. I am buying all the materials I need to succeed because faith doesn't mean I just sit around and wait for God to accept me into my dream school, it requires work. Faith is work. Putting all my eggs in one basket is hard! Trusting God when you can't see the end game is so hard, but so rewarding. I am thankful to have grown up watching my parents not have a plan B. They recently moved to New Zealand because God asked them to. Yes, it was scary and yes they worried about what if it didn't work. But, they still kept putting all their eggs in the basket God had given them. They didn't save one car "just in case" they come back early. They didn't keep the house "just in case". They gave it all to God and I was able to see how God provided for them in ways that their plan B could have never done.
I don't have all the answers about when is it okay to have a backup plan and when is it okay to just have faith. The truth is, God will tell you if you ask him. Faith is not one size fits all. Faith is available in all shapes and sizes, but it looks different for everyone. For me I had to make a commitment and start focusing all I have on this new path. For my family it was letting go of everything that was familiar and safe for the unknown. Putting all your eggs in one basket is never easy, but faith reminds us that we can never truly lose everything, only gain more of a trust in God.
But what about Faith.
What if God calls you to do something, should we continue to plan for our "plan B"? I am not advocating that we should never have a backup plan or that we should never plan things. However I am saying that I don't think faith needs a backup plan. When God really calls us to do something, he wants us to be all in. Not just our time, not just our money, not just our relationships, but all of it and more. God is asking us if we will put all of our hard earned eggs into his basket. Once the eggs leave our hands the what ifs start coming up. What if everything I am investing in is taken and I lose everything?
I guess my thought is how can we lose everything when we believe that God is our everything and since we can't lose him we can never lose everything (sorry some of my logical reasoning from studying for the LSAT is coming into my thinking lately).
Deuteronomy 31: 6 says "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Faith is a pretty scary thing, trust me I get that. Faith means that you are putting every single egg you have into Gods basket, his plan, and there is no way to know for sure... but God does promise that everything he does is to better us and not harm us. When I felt like God called me to law school I had no idea why he would do that, or how it would happen. Does he know how many loans I already have? Does he know that I am less qualified than almost any other applicant? Does he know how much it costs just to apply, let alone how much law school is? God why would you call me to something that bleeds me dry? The only answer I have to offer is faith. I have always trusted God and he has never let me down. All I can do is keep giving him my eggs.
Some people think I am crazy and ask me what I will do when this "law school thing" doesn't work out, they want to know what my plan B is. The truth is I don't have one. If for some reason Gods plan changes and I don't go, then I trust he will provide me with a different opportunity. All God asks of me right now is to do my best and put everything into what I think would please him. So I am. I am studying almost every day for a test that is in two more months. I am buying all the materials I need to succeed because faith doesn't mean I just sit around and wait for God to accept me into my dream school, it requires work. Faith is work. Putting all my eggs in one basket is hard! Trusting God when you can't see the end game is so hard, but so rewarding. I am thankful to have grown up watching my parents not have a plan B. They recently moved to New Zealand because God asked them to. Yes, it was scary and yes they worried about what if it didn't work. But, they still kept putting all their eggs in the basket God had given them. They didn't save one car "just in case" they come back early. They didn't keep the house "just in case". They gave it all to God and I was able to see how God provided for them in ways that their plan B could have never done.
I don't have all the answers about when is it okay to have a backup plan and when is it okay to just have faith. The truth is, God will tell you if you ask him. Faith is not one size fits all. Faith is available in all shapes and sizes, but it looks different for everyone. For me I had to make a commitment and start focusing all I have on this new path. For my family it was letting go of everything that was familiar and safe for the unknown. Putting all your eggs in one basket is never easy, but faith reminds us that we can never truly lose everything, only gain more of a trust in God.
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Piece of a Puzzle
Everyone does puzzles a little bit differently; some people find all the outer pieces and work their way in, some work on specific colors or shapes, and some that are like me just jab at all the pieces until something fits. The really intense puzzle people don't even look at the box, they just know exactly how everything should fit, in case you were wondering I am not one of those people.
I'm sure many of us have heard analogies about life and puzzle pieces, but bear with me. Imagine that your whole life is a bunch of puzzle pieces. Each year/ moment/ event is a piece. Except we can't see the box...or most of the pieces.
Honestly, I have no idea where I will be in the next five years, or even the next five days. But I continue to try and put the pieces together myself. I know God is powerful and has a plan for my life, but I still try and put the puzzle of my life together. Sometimes I will look up to God (who has the box and knows what all the pieces are) and ask if these two pieces go together, then before he has a chance to respond I start jabbing away trying to make it fit. Once I break off a few of the unnecessary edges I proudly say that they definitely do fit together! Until much later when I realized that the original piece was supposed to fit somewhere else in my life.
I tend to see other people who have their lives together and I wonder why can't my puzzle look like that, and then I might even start trying to fit my pieces together to look like theirs. Sometimes I will see someone who also has a mind like mine and they are doing amazing things to help people all over the world, so I start trying to use my strength in the same way that they do...but it won't fit. We can't base our puzzle on the pieces that other people have put together.
The more I try to put my life pieces together the more I get confused. I ask God how does law school fit into the puzzle? What about the husband piece? What piece has my future city on it? What about the finance piece? I keeping looking for the pieces myself, when God is patiently waiting for me to hand him one to use.
At the end of our lives we will finally see every piece come together, but we can't right now no matter how hard we try. Lately I just keep feeling like God is asking me to give him the pieces of my puzzle one at a time and he will put them together. Okay God, you want my future location here take it, you want my time it's yours, God you can have all of my pieces because I literally have no idea what to do with them. I am so thankful to have a just and loving God to put my life together. I know that I am not giving things up just for fun, but that I will have so much more joy and peace once I am not spending so much time putting the pieces together myself.
God has already begun to show me how he has put pieces together over the course of my life and seeing what he has done in the past encourages me to keep trusting that everything will be put together according to his perfect plan.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Stop trying to jab the pieces together and just hand off one piece at a time. God will create a beautiful masterpiece even better than what we can dream of ourselves.
I'm sure many of us have heard analogies about life and puzzle pieces, but bear with me. Imagine that your whole life is a bunch of puzzle pieces. Each year/ moment/ event is a piece. Except we can't see the box...or most of the pieces.
Honestly, I have no idea where I will be in the next five years, or even the next five days. But I continue to try and put the pieces together myself. I know God is powerful and has a plan for my life, but I still try and put the puzzle of my life together. Sometimes I will look up to God (who has the box and knows what all the pieces are) and ask if these two pieces go together, then before he has a chance to respond I start jabbing away trying to make it fit. Once I break off a few of the unnecessary edges I proudly say that they definitely do fit together! Until much later when I realized that the original piece was supposed to fit somewhere else in my life.
I tend to see other people who have their lives together and I wonder why can't my puzzle look like that, and then I might even start trying to fit my pieces together to look like theirs. Sometimes I will see someone who also has a mind like mine and they are doing amazing things to help people all over the world, so I start trying to use my strength in the same way that they do...but it won't fit. We can't base our puzzle on the pieces that other people have put together.
The more I try to put my life pieces together the more I get confused. I ask God how does law school fit into the puzzle? What about the husband piece? What piece has my future city on it? What about the finance piece? I keeping looking for the pieces myself, when God is patiently waiting for me to hand him one to use.
At the end of our lives we will finally see every piece come together, but we can't right now no matter how hard we try. Lately I just keep feeling like God is asking me to give him the pieces of my puzzle one at a time and he will put them together. Okay God, you want my future location here take it, you want my time it's yours, God you can have all of my pieces because I literally have no idea what to do with them. I am so thankful to have a just and loving God to put my life together. I know that I am not giving things up just for fun, but that I will have so much more joy and peace once I am not spending so much time putting the pieces together myself.
God has already begun to show me how he has put pieces together over the course of my life and seeing what he has done in the past encourages me to keep trusting that everything will be put together according to his perfect plan.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Stop trying to jab the pieces together and just hand off one piece at a time. God will create a beautiful masterpiece even better than what we can dream of ourselves.
Monday, June 6, 2016
Princess or Warrior
Growing up in the church as a girl I always heard about how I can be a Proverbs 31 woman. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, it is a famous part of the bible that talks about the wife of noble character. I really do love this verse and I do think that women of all ages can strive for the characteristics of being a strong Christian woman, but I always think about the fact that I am not married.
I am less than a week from my 22nd birthday and I have never been on a date. I am not saying this for sympathy or for encouragement, it is simply a fact. Seeing so many of my best friends and people I know getting married makes me so joyful for them, but also makes me wonder why not me. Going to a Christian college we had a motto, "ring by spring". For those of you outside the bubble this means that most girls feel pressure to graduate with an engagement ring and a diploma (in that order). Going through college I thought that was what I wanted more than anything, to be engaged so I can truly fulfill the call of being a Proverbs 31 woman (I know not my greatest mindset).
Now some of you are wondering if I chose to "Kiss Dating Goodbye" but the truth is, I just didn't have the opportunity. I am in no way against going on a date or even getting married young, but I am saying for me I do not feel ready to be married right now, although I do have the wedding part planned (thanks Pinterest). This last year I feel like God has been calling me to something different than just to be a typical "Proverbs 31 woman"
I honestly wasn't planning on writing this blog tonight, I had other less vulnerable ideas that I tried to make work. But I guess I just really want girls to know that God doesn't just tell us we are his beautiful princess (even though he does say that a lot, thankfully) but we are also a warrior. God has been challenging me to think of myself as more than just his beautiful princess because I am not weak and in need of rescuing by a dashing prince. I am a warrior that gets to fight for my father the king of kings. For me this word warrior came to mind around the same semester I felt God had called me to law school. So as I dove into his word I found the following verse.
Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
As I read this verse I gained a whole new perspective on what it means to live out the chapter of Proverbs 31. These two verses are right before the verses about the noble wife. God has called me to stand up for the poor and needy and seek justice. For me to do this I need to put down my crown and get a little dirty. God has commissioned us as women to not only accept our right as daughters and princesses but also as warriors for God. We get to be on the front lines fighting against injustice. We can be in relationships or single and the awesome thing is that God can still use us. I am not saying I will never be married, but I am saying that God has given me a unique opportunity to peruse him in my singleness. I don't want to focus on where or when I will meet the "right guy" I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman who is speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves and defend the rights of the poor and needy.
I am less than a week from my 22nd birthday and I have never been on a date. I am not saying this for sympathy or for encouragement, it is simply a fact. Seeing so many of my best friends and people I know getting married makes me so joyful for them, but also makes me wonder why not me. Going to a Christian college we had a motto, "ring by spring". For those of you outside the bubble this means that most girls feel pressure to graduate with an engagement ring and a diploma (in that order). Going through college I thought that was what I wanted more than anything, to be engaged so I can truly fulfill the call of being a Proverbs 31 woman (I know not my greatest mindset).
Now some of you are wondering if I chose to "Kiss Dating Goodbye" but the truth is, I just didn't have the opportunity. I am in no way against going on a date or even getting married young, but I am saying for me I do not feel ready to be married right now, although I do have the wedding part planned (thanks Pinterest). This last year I feel like God has been calling me to something different than just to be a typical "Proverbs 31 woman"
I honestly wasn't planning on writing this blog tonight, I had other less vulnerable ideas that I tried to make work. But I guess I just really want girls to know that God doesn't just tell us we are his beautiful princess (even though he does say that a lot, thankfully) but we are also a warrior. God has been challenging me to think of myself as more than just his beautiful princess because I am not weak and in need of rescuing by a dashing prince. I am a warrior that gets to fight for my father the king of kings. For me this word warrior came to mind around the same semester I felt God had called me to law school. So as I dove into his word I found the following verse.
Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
As I read this verse I gained a whole new perspective on what it means to live out the chapter of Proverbs 31. These two verses are right before the verses about the noble wife. God has called me to stand up for the poor and needy and seek justice. For me to do this I need to put down my crown and get a little dirty. God has commissioned us as women to not only accept our right as daughters and princesses but also as warriors for God. We get to be on the front lines fighting against injustice. We can be in relationships or single and the awesome thing is that God can still use us. I am not saying I will never be married, but I am saying that God has given me a unique opportunity to peruse him in my singleness. I don't want to focus on where or when I will meet the "right guy" I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman who is speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves and defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Dandelions
For Mothers Day as a kid I remember being so excited to give mom a present that was just from me. Yeah, dad helped us get the "big gift" that was from me and my sister (big as in it was not homemade), but I always wanted to get something just from me. Most times as a kid this would include a hand made card with lots of pink hearts on it and a beautiful bouquet of dandelions.
Now most of you are thinking awe..that is cute a little kid brought her mom a handful of weeds. If you did not already know dandelions are technically weeds. It's crazy though because I honestly don't think I ever learned that fun fact from my mom. She would gladly accept my handcrafted bouquet and even put it in water so they wouldn't wilt.So who was the person that shattered my world and told me dandelions were not flowers but ugly weeds? I don't remember who exactly it was, but I do remember it was not the person who I was even giving the flowers to, my mom.
So who told us that the dandelions we give God are not enough? I know I have thought this in my own life. I would be so excited to show God how great it was that I prayed AND read my Bible yesterday and right as I am about to hand him my dandelion someone mentions that they not only prayed, and read their Bible, but they also went to an extra church service. Now this person is handing God roses, so I assume he would never want my dandelions because it is just a weed...but he never said that.
The world and sometimes even the church is really good at telling us what talents are roses and which talents are dandelions. God never said "Well Sally went to three extra prayer meetings so you had better step up your game".He never told us that dandelions were weeds, he has always accepted them as flowers for his beautiful garden.
The Bible actually talks about this in Mark 12:43-44 " Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offering where put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ' I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything all she had.'"
This story is showing us God choose the dandelion over the rose. What would have happened if that women choose to not give any money because the most high King was standing there and she feared he would think less of her for giving less than everyone around her. We get so caught up in making sure the "gifts" we give to God are worthy, that sometimes we take too long and miss an opportunity. We see some of our offerings to God as weeds, but he sees every offering as a treasured and beautiful flower.
God loves receiving our dandelions, because he loves us. He does not see weeds and problems with our talents, he sees our willingness and eagerness to give him the only gift we have.
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