It All Piles Up
My life is currently a whirlwind. I'm in the process of writing curriculum for women's small groups and teaching it in Heart to Heart every Thursday night, helping my husband preach this weekend, the Board of Directors are coming in Monday for their annual meeting, my daughter, Jen, came home from South Africa unexpectedly but totally in the will of God (it is time for her to start her ministry, Recklessly Abandoned) a friend of my son's from Michigan came to live with us, my son's fiance' visa came through and I have a wedding to plan in 7 weeks with all of the trimmings including showers. Needless to say there are some things in my life that are piling up, and that is probably the reason for this word picture. May God bless you and help you with your own whirlwind lifestyles...Picture…a woman in a laundry room with high-speed photography. The more laundry the woman does, the more it seems to pile up. In exhaustion, the woman wipes her sweating brow and looks around at the laundry piling up and declares, “I’m done!” She walks out of the laundry room and the laundry room is instantly organized with each piece of laundry neatly folded.
Hear…the Lord say, “Life goes on. There will continually be hurt, decisions and frustration because it is all a part of the life experience. And because it is a part, your spirit needs to be “cleansed” on a regular basis. Don’t think to yourself, ‘ I can handle this…I am dealing with this.’ I don’t want you dealing with all of this, not by yourself. I want you to release it into My Hand. I want you to let go, so that I can heal you, cleanse you and wash you from everyday junk so that it doesn’t pile up, and you become overwhelmed. Purposefully, and periodically release it all into My Hands.”
Consider: You know what I hate about laundry? It doesn’t stay done. You work to get it all caught up and within a few days it is all heaped up again. But I have found that most of life is that way. You mow the grass and it grows again. You wash the car and it has to get washed again. You clean off your desk and it has to get cleaned off again. You take a shower, and low and behold you have to take another one. Therefore it shouldn’t surprise us that our inner man has to be cleansed on an ongoing basis. When you walk through this life, stuff has an annoying habit of clinging to you. No matter how spiritual you might think you are, you still get traffic tickets, the kids still get sick, the boss still yells at you for no reason, and smoke detectors still go off while you are cooking. Life happens to all of us…the big stuff and the little stuff. The big stuff we take to God, but the little stuff we consider of such little importance that we just sweep it under the rug. The problem is that it does pile up. Then it becomes a feast for the little critters like ants and even mice…yuck. It’s important that we don’t ignore the small annoyances of life, nor try to handle them on our own. Turn everything over to the Lord on a daily basis and let him direct you how to deal with it in a healthy and godlike manner. There is a saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” I agree, but neither should you ignore it. Release it all into God’s Hands, big and small so that it doesn’t pile up.
Pray…”Lord, I have a habit of ignoring some things until they pile so high that I have a major problem on my hands. I’m sorry for that. Help me to yield all of my life to you on a daily basis regardless of how small or big the problems might be. Help me to remember that I don’t have to deal with them alone; in fact, it is best that I do not. I give you every part of my life, the little irritations, the big frustrations, and the everyday choices that I make. I give you my life completely, and unreservedly, in Jesus Name, Amen.”
TWO PATHS
It has been a roller coaster ride. My son's fiance' visa was not actually approved, the application was aproved, so there was more work there. In faith, we are proceding with wedding plans. We have started our second site and first step in fulfilling God's purposes that Christian Life Center be a multi-site church. My husband went to South Africa to help with two conferences that Bishop Garlington is putting on there. My daughter, Jen, was traveling to meet him for the first conference so there was the gathering of a suitcase of supplies that she needed from the states, there were three conferences that we went to and...well...I think that you are catching my drift. My life is a lot like your life...always on the run, always two steps behind. The problem with this rush, rush way of life is that we tend to do somethings on automatic pilot, because we don't have the time to think it through. Some of those things need to change. Please read the below picture with your heart open to the direction of the Holy Spirit.Picture: I saw myself on a path. There was a fork in the road and one fork went to a well-paved, well-lit path. There were all kinds of people walking on that path. They were joking, laughing, worshiping the Lord and having a good time. The Lord said, “No, not that way, the other way.” I stopped and looked at the other path, which lead to the side of a very steep mountain. It was rocky and from the one lone person I saw climbing up ahead of me, it was very difficult. In fact, if I hadn’t seen the person climbing, I wouldn’t have known that there even was a path. I asked the Lord, “Why should I take this path? Why would anyone take this path?” The Lord reminded me of a time a missions’ team from our church was on a bus in Senegal, West Africa. The bus obviously didn’t have any shocks and it was hot, dusty and uncomfortable. In an effort to keep our spirits up, we tried singing some praise songs. To be honest, it sounded awful, but we kept it up until we reached our destination. The Lord then started flashing a number of pictures from other missions’ trips as well as other times that had been uncomfortable and difficult for me. He said, “Why did you go? Why did you do that?” I was honest with the Lord. I told Him, “It certainly wasn’t for the adventure, because I’m not a very adventurous sort. I’m kind of a homebody; and I don’t like to travel.” The Lord asked, “Then why did you do it?” I thought for only a moment before I explained, “Because I love you and you wanted me to go that route. I love your purposes and the people for whom you died. They needed to know how much you love them.” “Then that’s the reason why you will take this path rather than the well-trodden path.” When God put it that way, it didn’t seem like I had any choice, so I started up.
It was just as I expected, difficult. It reminded me of another mountain path that I had once walked while in Bulgaria. I said, “Lord I remember this one.” Still in a teaching mode the Lord asked, “What did you learn on this one?” I said, “From what I remember, it just kept going on and on and I didn’t think I would ever reach the top. I didn’t think I would make it.” “But did you?” the Lord pressed. I sighed and reluctantly told him that yes I had made it. By this time I thought I knew where God was going with this and He didn’t disappoint me. “How did you make it?” I made it by putting one foot in front of the other and refusing to give up.” So I kept climbing up the mountain path until I made it to the top of the mountain. The view was not that of the mountaintop in Bulgaria, but it was familiar and it was spectacular. It was like I was back watching the sunrise over the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. The view was breathtaking. When I could speak I told the Lord, “Now I understand why you had me take this route. Even though it’s steep, hard and almost impossible, I take it because I love you. I take it because when I finally get to the top there is nothing to interfere with the beautiful view. Just like the sunrise over the Himalayas, there is nothing to restrict my view of you. Lord, when I walk the path that is not well trod, it is because I love you enough to be obedient. I love you enough to pay the price and keep on walking even when I’m exhausted and I think I’m never going to make it. I just keep putting my trust in you, one step at a time. When I get to the top there is an unrestricted view of you, Lord.
Hear…the Lord say to you, “You are at a crossroads. You have two choices. You can keep on doing things the way you have always done them. You can keep on getting the same results…they’re good, but not the best. I want you to know there is another path. At times it is hard and difficult. But if you choose to love me enough and trust me enough to be obedient, I will help you every step of the way. The end result will be more glorious than you ever imagine. But the choice is yours today…the easy path that you see everyone taking, or the path that is created just for you.”
Consider: Are you really enjoying going around the same mountain over and over again? Do you really want to keep getting the same results? Do you really want to be struggling with the same issues one year from now? Do you really want to be part of a crowd going in circles? Or do you want to step out in faith, chose to follow the Lord even though at times it looks hard? For the path that God has prepared for you though difficult, brings you to a glorious place, a place that you would not want to miss. Believe me, it’s beyond description. But it is your choice. Choose now.
Pray: “Lord, I’m not really a coward. It’s just that the way that I have been traveling is familiar. I know what I’m doing, even if it isn’t satisfying. But I do want more, so I surrender to you right now my fear of failure and my fear of the unknown. It seems that I’ve had to do this a lot here lately, but I’m doing it one more time. Take my fear and replace it with your strength. I do trust you; it’s me that I have trouble trusting. But I am going to trust you enough to keep me from falling. We will take this one step at a time. You guide me and support me with your right hand of power and I will walk this unknown path with you. Really, I’m quite excited. I can’t wait to see where we will go next. I love you. Thanks for pointing out another way. In Jesus Name, Amen.”
