Last month I was so blessed to be able to go to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City for three days! I also visited with a very dear friend whom I have known for over 15 years but rarely get to see.
While I was in the prayer room, I was crying out to God that I really need Him to meet me daily with the strength and energy I need to care for the family He has given me. Instead of whining about it like I mostly have in the past, I simply came to Him in trust, knowing that He must have a way of providing for me since He gave me these responsibilities. In response, I felt that He promised to give me a burst of energy each day to help me accomplish more. Not just to push through the weariness, but to be able to run like a sprinter. I expected that burst to come during nap time, buying me a couple of extra hours each day to get something done instead of sleeping. Instead, He has been getting me up early!
I have never been (voluntarily) an early riser. But He has given me the faith to set my alarm for 5am every day so I can get most of my daily chores done and have an hour for quiet time with Him before the kids get up. And I am experiencing that burst of energy that He promised me! I am still often tired during the day, but not more than before. And I am so much more relaxed with the kids because I am able to get so much more done. I don't feel pressure during the day to try to get so much done while they're clinging to my legs (which just drives me crazy) and instead I can sit down and take more time with them during the day. I'm also slowly starting to be able to get control of some other organizing and cleaning projects that I haven't been able to get to for a long time.
I am so grateful that the Lord is meeting me in this totally unexpected way. I am still taking naps each day (totally crashing for an hour or two in the afternoons is a better way to put it), but I am in a better mood overall and feeling more hope than I have for a long time. In fact, I look forward to waking up each morning to have those uninterrupted hours of feeling good and getting stuff done!
My prayer for you is this: that you will open up your heart to the Lord in full trust, asking Him for what you really want and need. He wants to meet you there! I pray that the answer will come quickly and that you will be given the faith to step out and do what He says, even if the answer isn't what you expected.
Oh, how He loves us!
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Thursday, October 16, 2008
What to do today?
I posted this on my personal blog last week but thought that it would be appropriate here as well.
What to do today?
Many chores beckon,
Duties never-ending,
Children always needing,
Errands to be done.
But ...
Baby niece born last night
Tiny bundle of sweetness
Life beginning, makes me think
What really matters?
Should I vacuum all the house
Fold the laundry, organize,
Bead a necklace, shop for food,
Practice piano, write a song?
Somehow I don't know where to start
Today - just a Tuesday, I guess
But not.
This is the only "today" I have
These hours precious, not to be
Spent carelessly.
so tell me please
What would You have me do today?
What to do today?
Many chores beckon,
Duties never-ending,
Children always needing,
Errands to be done.
But ...
Baby niece born last night
Tiny bundle of sweetness
Life beginning, makes me think
What really matters?
Should I vacuum all the house
Fold the laundry, organize,
Bead a necklace, shop for food,
Practice piano, write a song?
Somehow I don't know where to start
Today - just a Tuesday, I guess
But not.
This is the only "today" I have
These hours precious, not to be
Spent carelessly.
so tell me please
What would You have me do today?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
"All of God's Power"
"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).
"Ministering in everyday opportunities that surround us does not mean that we select our own surroundings--it means being God's very special choice to be available for use in any of the seemingly random surroundings which He has engineered for us. The very character we exhibit in our present surroundings is an indication of what we will be like in other surroundings.
"The things Jesus did were the most menial of everyday tasks, and this is an indication that it takes all of God's power in me to accomplish even the most common tasks in His way. Can I use a towel as He did? Towels, dishes, sandals, and all the other ordinary things in our lives reveal what we are made of more quickly than anything else. It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the most menial duty as it ought to be done" (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 9/11).
Towels, dishes, sandals ... I can hardly think of better words to describe the everyday-ness of life as a a mom. I am encouraged to realize that these things are so important that it takes all of God's power to do them well. I mostly rush through the work in my own strength, when all the time Jesus wants to reveal Himself to and through me in the midst of it. Lord, let Your power be made real in me to do the most daily, mundane work. Help me to see it as significant as You see it. Reveal Your character in me.
I had just posted this and then went to one of my favorite blogs and saw this post. Just had to share it with you.
"Ministering in everyday opportunities that surround us does not mean that we select our own surroundings--it means being God's very special choice to be available for use in any of the seemingly random surroundings which He has engineered for us. The very character we exhibit in our present surroundings is an indication of what we will be like in other surroundings.
"The things Jesus did were the most menial of everyday tasks, and this is an indication that it takes all of God's power in me to accomplish even the most common tasks in His way. Can I use a towel as He did? Towels, dishes, sandals, and all the other ordinary things in our lives reveal what we are made of more quickly than anything else. It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the most menial duty as it ought to be done" (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 9/11).
Towels, dishes, sandals ... I can hardly think of better words to describe the everyday-ness of life as a a mom. I am encouraged to realize that these things are so important that it takes all of God's power to do them well. I mostly rush through the work in my own strength, when all the time Jesus wants to reveal Himself to and through me in the midst of it. Lord, let Your power be made real in me to do the most daily, mundane work. Help me to see it as significant as You see it. Reveal Your character in me.
I had just posted this and then went to one of my favorite blogs and saw this post. Just had to share it with you.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Reward of Work
"Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates" (Pro 31:31 NKJV).
So often I think of doing my work for the Lord's benefit. But it is obvious, when I think about it, that nothing that I do or don't do can possibly add to His power and strength. So then I think that it is for others, and on one level it is. But in the end, I myself am the primary beneficiary of my own work. This is true not only in this life, in growth of character and rewards (whether material, spiritual, or emotional) but in eternity as well. The fruit of my hands will be given to me! (Nothing is wasted!) Our own works will cause Jesus to praise us before men and angels: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Mat. 25:21).
"For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1Co 3:9-15 NKJV, emphasis added).
While our works will not earn Heaven for us, they still have real eternal value. If what we build during this internship (this pre-life, if you will) survives the fire of judgment, it will continue on in the new Heaven and Earth, and we will be honored for having done it. You may work now in obscurity, hidden from the praise of man. You may often wonder whether anyone sees. You may crave praise. (Oh, do I!) Our desire is not wrong. But the best praise is saved for last. Our work is not yet complete. One day, all that we have done in secret "as to the Lord" will be noticed by all of creation. Our Father, who sees us now, will reward us openly!
This is the opposite of man's way. Jesus' brothers advised him, "For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world" (Joh 7:4 NKJV). The human way is to do everything openly, to be known and recognized by as many as possible, as quickly as possible. But this is the way of unbelief (7:5). Jesus' way is the opposite: "But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret" (Joh 7:10 NKJV). And this is the reason: Whatever is done secretly now, the Father will reward openly later!
"But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly" (Mat 6:3-4 NKJV).
"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (Mat 6:6 NKJV).
"But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (Mat 6:17-18 NKJV).
Three times, Jesus repeats the phrase, "your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Perhaps this is something He wants us to understand!
Lord, help me not to do my work merely for temporary rewards. Please protect me from seeing myself as a martyr for my family, slaving away with little appreciation for all my work. For, whether anyone now notices or not, You see everything I do. Help me to do it well, for Your praise. Rest my heart in the knowledge that the real, lasting rewards are still to come. Thank You for the encouragement of the praise I do receive (and now that I think of it, it comes more often than I sometimes think). It helps to keep me going. But let me thank You even more for the acts of love and service that I do which are not noticed, for these are the ones for which I will reap great, eternal rewards later. Please give me the grace to patiently wait for what You have promised instead of grasping for whatever I can get now.
"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ" (Col 3:23-24 NKJV).
So often I think of doing my work for the Lord's benefit. But it is obvious, when I think about it, that nothing that I do or don't do can possibly add to His power and strength. So then I think that it is for others, and on one level it is. But in the end, I myself am the primary beneficiary of my own work. This is true not only in this life, in growth of character and rewards (whether material, spiritual, or emotional) but in eternity as well. The fruit of my hands will be given to me! (Nothing is wasted!) Our own works will cause Jesus to praise us before men and angels: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Mat. 25:21).
"For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1Co 3:9-15 NKJV, emphasis added).
While our works will not earn Heaven for us, they still have real eternal value. If what we build during this internship (this pre-life, if you will) survives the fire of judgment, it will continue on in the new Heaven and Earth, and we will be honored for having done it. You may work now in obscurity, hidden from the praise of man. You may often wonder whether anyone sees. You may crave praise. (Oh, do I!) Our desire is not wrong. But the best praise is saved for last. Our work is not yet complete. One day, all that we have done in secret "as to the Lord" will be noticed by all of creation. Our Father, who sees us now, will reward us openly!
This is the opposite of man's way. Jesus' brothers advised him, "For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world" (Joh 7:4 NKJV). The human way is to do everything openly, to be known and recognized by as many as possible, as quickly as possible. But this is the way of unbelief (7:5). Jesus' way is the opposite: "But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret" (Joh 7:10 NKJV). And this is the reason: Whatever is done secretly now, the Father will reward openly later!
"But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly" (Mat 6:3-4 NKJV).
"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (Mat 6:6 NKJV).
"But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (Mat 6:17-18 NKJV).
Three times, Jesus repeats the phrase, "your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Perhaps this is something He wants us to understand!
Lord, help me not to do my work merely for temporary rewards. Please protect me from seeing myself as a martyr for my family, slaving away with little appreciation for all my work. For, whether anyone now notices or not, You see everything I do. Help me to do it well, for Your praise. Rest my heart in the knowledge that the real, lasting rewards are still to come. Thank You for the encouragement of the praise I do receive (and now that I think of it, it comes more often than I sometimes think). It helps to keep me going. But let me thank You even more for the acts of love and service that I do which are not noticed, for these are the ones for which I will reap great, eternal rewards later. Please give me the grace to patiently wait for what You have promised instead of grasping for whatever I can get now.
"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ" (Col 3:23-24 NKJV).
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