So, funny story. I've been up since 2:30am. Apparently sometimes night time meds have the opposite effect. When I can't sleep, I pray. Then sometimes after that I'm inspired and I can't sleep until I write. When I'm done writing, I make sweet potato and pecan spice pancakes for my kids with a side of bacon, coffee for my husband and all four lunches packed and ready to go too all before any alarm clocks go off. Am I good or what? Just when I was feeling like the worlds most productive and highest achieving super mom, a little bacon grease spills out of the pan and all the fire alarms go off in our house, startling and waking up my entire family. It woke David up and he jumped out of bed, ran downstairs and bursted into laughter and shook his head when he saw my wired, twitching, wide eyed face flipping pancakes and waving a towel under the fire alarm. He then, got a bloody nose due to the fright and I, right there on the spot, received my wife and mother of the year award and took a graceful bow. How was your morning?
Before all the drama and in the quiet of the night God met me in my prayer time and lit a fire in my soul. It was in the still silence that I found clarity of thought and heard His voice louder than any other. This is what flowed from my precious moments with Him.
*Disclaimer - when you are reading all caps please translate that as excitement and enthusiasm in my voice. I promise I’m not yelling at you. (I would never yell at you, Carol.) Disclaimer number two, I'm going to bed after writing this, so please forgive any and all typos in advance.
I have been consuming all kinds of sinus meds for a week now. Day time, night time... every size and color of pill you can imagine, I’ve gagged so many times trying to get those babies down ... it's pitiful Too much? Sorry! It’s just my life right now people. Anyway, here I am at 4 in the morning, writing this to you. Am I delusional? Possibly. Am I lacking in sleep, most definitely. Am I at my very best? Nope. Friend, It’s four a.m. and I've already been up for an hour and a half!!! I haven’t slept through the night in three weeks now, and I am a sleep girl. I love my sleep right under I love God and Family - sleep and food tie at third for my hearts affection. When I don’t sleep I’m like a bear that got woken up mid hibernation and unfortunately for you... I just might eat you alive, watch yourself. However, this season of lack of sleep has been different. It’s been a blessing in disguise. Every time I can’t sleep I listen to the word of God, I pray, I worship. In the mornings I have been sustained by the grace of Jesus and filled with supernatural patience and love for those who may or may not have disturbed my sleep.
Tonight I am wide awake praying over my life, my family, my church, this season. Over and over again the last three weeks the same thing keeps coming into my head when I am on my face in prayer and it is this....
You were made for such a time and such a season as this.
I believe this isn’t just for me. It’s for you too. We were made, hand crafted by God Almighty to live on this earth, right now, in this season and span of time. That is no accident. It’s God’s beautifully orchestrated plan. Not only were we made for this time, we have been called to bear his light and love to these generations of humans walking the earth right at this very moment. Don’t let that truth bring fear or feelings of intimidation or inadequacy. Where God calls... He equips. He is faithful.
God has made you and I with great purpose. No one has your skill set, passions, abilities, gifts, your family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, contacts, your surroundings, your job... just you.
We need to be in His Word, on our knees in prayer, on our faces in worship... filling up - to pour out. We have been chosen by God Almighty to live a sacrificial life of love in this day and age. By this I don’t mean you’ve been called to be the Holy Spirit. Nope. Just don’t even go there. Let all conviction come from Him alone. We were called to live a life of love, obedience and sacrifice. That looks like us pouring out love, speaking truth in love and preferring others above ourselves with intentional love (even and especially preferring the unlovely). It also means we are called to embrace and invite the poor, the sinners, the proud, the unkind, the insecure, and the outcasts, the awkward, the annoying the different people IN. We aren't just asked to invite them in, we are asked and called to meet them wherever they are at.... we all have a seat available for us at the table. Amen?! Praise Jesus. Let's not miss an opportunity to invite someone to the feast at King Jesus' table. When we find Him, we find Home. Isn't that the longing of all our hearts? Let's diligently invite people into that space with the love we have been given from the Father.
We must be ready to make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity ". Ephesians 5:15,16 "Be very careful then how you live- not as undue but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." To do that well we need to know His Word, believe it’s true, repent of our sins and live a prayerful and vigilant life, listening for His voice, in step with the Spirit, ready and prepared to lavish the love we’ve so generously received from Him onto others. This kind of selfless love, sacrificial love, and even sometimes painful love is so countercultural but so desperately needed in this time.
Don’t let fear of man hold you back any longer, don’t allow depression to keep you from sharing the love of God , in Jesus name don’t let anxiety keep you locked in the prison of your mind. Don’t let insecurities keep you from sharing what God’s given you with others. Don’t let pride tell you you’re better than anyone else on this planet - you’re not. We all have value and worth, humble yourself my friend and treat others the way you want to be treated. Do not allow there to be any quarreling among you! We don’t have time for that!!! Let love, forgiveness and extravagant grace be what defines you - not bitterness. Let’s allow the Lord to turn our weaknesses into strengths. “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.””
Revelation 12:10-12 \
How do we do that? Talk about your journey and what you wrestle with in life. Invite God to use the stories of your fear, depression, anxiety, and sin. With His wisdom and discernment your testimony could encourage someone else. No one walking this earth is alone. The enemy would love for our weakness to isolate us, but our weaknesses can bind us together in love and sharpen one another powerfully. Knit together we are a powerful army.
What else can we do? We can repent of our pride. Pride comes in many forms but is truly evil in every way. We all have pride that rears its head in one way or another.
We must continually repent of our pride, forgive quickly and fully, and never let bitterness take root. DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO MOVE FORWARD TODAY. God is in the business of using our broken stories to bring healing, redemption and life to others and to ourselves. Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
We don’t have time to wallow in self pity, to gossip, to be bitter, to argue, complain, and to be proud. These are the things that are hindering us from being useful vessels in the Kingdom. Rid yourselves of these things and RUN!!!! Run the good race. Fight the good fight. Love God, love your neighbor, love your enemy, love your family, love the cashier at the grocery store, love your obnoxious co-worker, love the orphans, love the widows, love the homeless, love the unlovely, love your brother, love your barista (and please, please, please, for the love, DO NOT EVER tip with a cheesy gospel fold out tract from 1978. People work hard for their money and often live off of tips they make. As well meaning as you might be, those kinds of gestures without great kindness and generosity do more harm than good. If you attach Jesus’ name to anything let it be to generosity and sincere love and not stinginess and condemnation).
... It’s all there in His Word, maybe not the tract part, but the rest is... LOVE. Love God, love others and LOVE who God made YOU! There is no one else like you. And YOU WERE CALLED TO SUCH A SEASON AS THIS.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:12-17
This is my time and my season... it’s yours too. How we spend it is up to us.
Everything about your story, every bit about your life, the miraculous, the good, the dark and the ugly... it can all be used to bring others to Him and to bring glory to His kingdom here on earth. Don't let your story or your weaknesses be what holds you back, let it be what propels you to victory. We get this moment within the span of history, eternity and time to make something big of Him with our lives. Every act of kindness counts, every opportunity that we have to extend love counts. Every moment counts. This moment belongs to us. Let us leave an undeniable legacy of love.
All for your glory Jesus. Let it all be for you.
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