A Willing Vessel

This past Saturday was filled with much excitement as Ashleigh and Jason got ready for their first Father-Daughter Dance.  I enjoyed spending those precious moments helping my daughter get ready for her big date with Daddy.  After Aaron and I saw them off we hopped in the car and made our way to Greensboro to do a little Christmas “Looking” (as Aaron calls it).  Afterwards we headed back to High Point to eat at Olive Garden, located at the Palladium.  Aaron and I enjoyed our Mother-Son outing and as the evening was drawing to an end I decided to check Facebook to see if Jason had posted any pictures that he may have taken.  When I pulled open Facebook the first post I see was of a little girl in the hospital and this little girl happens to be the daughter of a friend of mine at work.  I was heartbroken to see such a small child in ICU and hooked up to so many tubes, lines and monitors.  I started to cry, I hurt for this little girl and her mother and immediately Aaron and I stopped and prayed for her.  Our waiter came around the corner after we had finished and asked if we need anything else and I just said the check.  He asked if I was OK and I said yes and proceeded to tell him about what I had seen on Facebook.  A few minutes later he was back packing up our leftovers and he brought the check.  Aaron and I were preparing to leave when Justin (our waiter) came back to our table and asked if he could pray with us, for Cadence, and I immediately agreed.   I was awestruck that this kind young man wasn’t worried about the other guests or about what his manger would say.  He was just willing to be an instrument, a vessel that the Holy Spirit would use.

How many times have you heard the voice of God and ignored it?  What if Justin had ignored the nudge, the still small voice, that push that only comes from the Holy Spirit?  How many times have we been a willing vessel?  I was deeply touched by this young man’s actions and it makes me wonder how many times I have been a willing vessel for my God. 

 

We should be willing and prepared at all times.  I believe that Acts 9:15 speaks of Justin’s character Saturday night.

“But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:” 

He was not only willing, but he was prepared to do what God had asked of him.  I think sometimes in our Christian walk we are so wrapped up in saving the lost and spreading the Gospel that we tend to overlook our brothers and sisters in Christ.  I’m not saying that the lost are not important, because they are.  Jesus stated that we should compel them (the sinners) to come and we have been placed on this earth to spread the Gospel.  But we should not forget that we also have to uplift those that are part of the family.  If we do not encourage one another and if we are not there to help those that are downtrodden then they will be left to temptation.  Justin was an encouragement to me and a reminder that we are not alone in this world.  Sometimes it feels like we fight an endless battle and we get nowhere.  But God!  Yes But God!  He sends those people into our lives to remind us that we are in this fight together and that we are not alone and that He will always send those into our lives when we need them the most.   

Let us uplift one another, let our lives reflect Christ, so that we may be a vessel that God will use for His Glory! 

 

2 Timothy 2:21  

“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

 

But God

But God

But God is my favorite phrase and appears 43 times in the Bible. When it seems your world is falling apart (Psalms 73:26) or you’re on top of the world (Ephesians 2:4) always remember who is ultimately in control.

• Psalms 73:26 ~ My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

• Ephesians 2:4 ~ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

I have used this small phrase in many of my blogs, because no matter what I have said, done or felt God has always been there to hold me through it. No matter how hard I try to do things (even in the name of Christ) my best is never good enough, but God is there to perfect it. For example (I have many but to save myself from complete embarrassment, I will only name one.) God choose to use me to reach out to one of His own that was hurting and just needed to hear a kind word and that she was not alone. Now at first I fought the urge to speak with this woman, But God, He had other plans. I kept making excuses to myself and they were to myself, because he chose to ignore my pleas and the more I f ought the sicker to my stomach I became. When I finally gave in and allowed the Holy Spirit to move, I received one of the greatest blessings. We never know when or how the Lord is going to use us; we just need to be ready.

Not only have I experienced many But God moments, but I have witnessed them. I have seen how God shows us His mercy and grace in our greatest afflictions. Our country is sick; But God continues to bless us. Just this week the Midwest experienced tornados and in the midst of all the destruction was a cross hanging from some power lines. One teenage boy decided to take a picture and tweet “God is with us”. God continues to show us that He is in control and continues to show us that He is with us before and after whatever we are going through.

Let us remember that through our daily lives, the coming and going and the doing of this and that and remember through all of the destruction and evil that we see on a daily basis that we serve a might God and that He is Sovereign. And when we are at our happiest and joyous moments or it seems that there is no light at the end of the tunnel always remember “But God”.

Pull, Push & Hold ~ Part 3

  

 

Pull, Push & Hold – Part III

 

I see a mother in a hurry at the store with her three children; she has many thoughts going through her head.  She is trying to remember if she grabbed that extra gallon of milk or that art supply needed for one of the many school projects.  Her mind is also at the same time going in a totally different direction, maybe she is thinking about dinner, a loved one, her children’s school activities or maybe that one bill that just won’t seem to go away.  But as I observer her and her three children I see that in her hast she is pulling one, pushing another and holding the third.  Now this is just an example of how we may treat our children when we are in a hurry or have a million things on our mind, but we know when it comes down to it and the important decision that we have to make concerning the welfare of our children the phrase pull, push and hold take on a new meaning. 

On this last installment of Pull, Push & Hold, I would like to concentrate on how God holds us in His arms.  Who doesn’t like to be held from time to time, I know I do.  My children want their “cuddle” time and men (admit it) enjoy a good snuggle from time to time as well. 

God holds us in His strong, comforting embrace.  Sometimes he holds us for our protection and sometimes it is just to let us know that we are loved and He is our comforter.  I know that God holds me when I am up on the mountain but more importantly He holds me when I am down in the valley.  It is at those times that we feel the most lost and in need.  We generally don’t call on God when we feel that life is going well.  I don’t mean that we are not praying or reading our bibles, what I mean is that our prayers are more quick and hurried and our devotional time is not as meaningful.  When we are down in the valleys our prayer life is more focused and we strive to be in constant prayer and when we are communing with God during these rough times we tend to be more diligent in our studies of the Word.  The bible tells us to pray without ceasing:

I Timothy 5:17-18

Pray without ceasing.  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

We should be in constant communication with our Lord weather our days are filled with cupcakes and sprinkles or … well you get the picture.  Now I know we are not able to spend every waking minute in prayer, we do have jobs and daily activities that require our attention.  Who said that our prayers had to be lengthy and full of eloquent words or phrases?  Sometimes our prayers are a quick and simple “Lord help me”.  God knows what we are going through and He knows what we need and when we need it. 

God never promised us an easy road but He did promise to be there every step of the way.  As the “Foot Prints” poem states:

The Lord replied, "My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you.  During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

He will always be there to carry or hold us through the toughest times.  So when we feel that we just can’t go on or make it on our own remember that we don’t have to because we have a Savior who is holding us in His arms every day.