Psalm 139:23

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way of the everlasting."

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

God is real

I am currently teaching my 1st & 2nd grade class about the miracles Jesus performed. So far we have learned about turning water into wine, healing of the royal official's son, catching a large number of fish & Jesus healing the man with leprosy. The theme for the children's ministry this year is "Following in the footsteps of Jesus." So we are spending a lot of time talking about the life Jesus lived while He walked this earth. So much that when I asked how we know that the verse John 8:12 is in the New Testament? One of my little boys replied "Cause we don't read the Old Testament!" (Wake up call to the minister! HELLO!... Needless to say next year we will be reading the Old Testament). 

Anyway, my goal for my 1st & 2nd grade Bible class is a little different... I want them to understand how Jesus' miracles proved that He was who He claimed to be. This week we talked about Jesus telling the Leper that his healing is his testimony. I wrote on a poster "How do we know God is real?" I told my kids that a testimony is something God has done for us that helps us to know HE is real. Each child had to tell me how they know God is real, their testimony, & we wrote it on the poster. One of my boys said, "God gave me a new pair of shoes." Over Spring Break I had invited the little boy to come over for a day. We took him to the movies & to dinner. At the movies he told me his feet were hurting because the sole of his shoes were coming off... It was the only pair he had. I told him that I would see what we could do about his shoes. I took him to Target to buy a new pair of shoes. At Target I discovered not only did he not have shoes, he also didn't have any socks. So he got to pick out a new pair of shoes, socks, and a jacket. As is often the case in this ministry, my heart was once again broken over the pain that is right in front of my eyes. (I forgot to mention that he lost a tooth at my house so Miss Kayla got to play Tooth Fairy...It truly is the little things that make me love my job so much).

On Sunday when he proclaimed that he knows HIS God is real because HE gave him a new pair of shoes, I was absolutely in awe of God's goodness! That is what I wanted the little boy to understand that night. I did not want him walking away thinking Miss Kayla bought me a pair of shoes. I wanted to enforce the idea that God had given Miss Kayla the funds to buy him what he desperately needed. God took the temporary & made it an eternal opportunity. It wasn't about me or money or a pair of shoes... It was about a child having the opportunity to know HIS creator & the love that HE has for HIS child! Money will come & it will go. Shoes will not last. Eventually they will wear out like the other pair. But that child's soul will last an eternity! His relationship with the Lord will be eternal. 

Honestly, I wish I could tell you that the story I shared was a one time thing. From the deepest point of brokenness inside my heart I desire to tell you that my Contact kids for the majority get what they need, but that would simply be shielding you from reality. The truth is none of my kids have everything they need. All of them go without at least one essential; food, beds, shoes, clothes, underwear, affection, love; etc. And I don't have what it takes to provide for all of their needs! 

This is the brokenness within the United States that is overlooked every single day. I was challenged yesterday in chapel to have the courage to go to China. And yes it take courage to go on a foreign mission trip. It takes courage to leave your place of comfort, wherever that may be. However, mission trips are easy... hear me out... I did not say they are not beneficial or they don't accomplish great things.. I said they are easy.  I love foreign mission. I've been to Honduras, I've been to the Dominican Republic, I want to go to Haiti & Africa. I have nothing against foreign mission... I have a problem with this idea that mission trips counteract for the other 358 days a year that we get to close our eyes & pretend the same problems don't exist in our own country. On a mission trip you get to go somewhere & pour out your heart for a week & then you get to leave. As a few months roll by you go right back to living your normal life. You can't leave mission work. Once you walk into the inner city of your hometown you can no longer close your eyes & pretend the pain doesn't exist. 

So here is my challenge... STOP LEAVING! Have the courage to STAY WHERE YOU ARE.. wherever that may be! You want America to be a country that glorifies God as a whole? Teach the children that live in YOUR country! They are our future. The harvest in the inner city of Tulsa is plentiful & the workers are few!!! GOD needs people to be missionaries in the United States too. You want a six year old little boy, growing up in the worst of circumstances known to American children, to have a relationship with God? Meet his physical needs as a gateway to his spiritual needs. I don't know where God is calling you to work, but I know that as Christians HE has called us to act on the behalf of HIS children.We are all asked to minister in different places. You may not be called to the inner city of Tulsa, but you are called somewhere. Search out HIS plan for your ministry & when HE gives you an answer act!... Even if it means simply walking across the street... ACT!




Acts 20:24
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Miracle of the Moment

"I praise you Lord for I am fearfully & wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know this full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be"
- Psalm 139:14-16

Last night we had a Bible study with our youth group girls. We discussed Psalm 139. The question that was asked was, "Have you ever thought about the fact that God has a plan for every moment of your life?" It was a question that I needed to be asked myself. This idea that the King of Kings could possibly care about me enough to plan out the details of my life is so beyond my capability of understanding! 

As the discussion went on we talked about the trials in this life... death, divorce, anger, lust, poor decisions, etc. One of the girls in the group stated, "I don't understand how God can see every bad thought I've ever had & still love me." At this moment I was more thankful for God's miracles in small moments than ever before. Through one of the trials I encountered God clearly revealed to me that He is able to love me in spite of fault because He willing gave up His only son to be rejected, spat on, killed & forsaken, so that I might have a relationship with Him. When He looks at me He sees HIS son... when HE looks at her HE sees JESUS. In spite of everything that happens in this life, JESUS died & rose again! HE is coming back! And because of that we can have a relationship with GOD regardless of our faults, fears, failures, & shortcomings. In all of these things HE sees a creation that was fearfully & wonderfully made by HIS loving hands. He designed each of us with a plan & a purpose... every life is a miracle in the moment.

We continued to discuss the ways in which God speaks to us through HIS word, HIS creation, & those HE placed in our lives. I spoke of a time when my family prayed together that God would reveal Himself through HIS creation. As we concluded that prayer a cardinal landed in our front yard. GOD has chosen to reveal HIMSELF to our family in many ways, but the cardinal will always be one that stands out in my mind. Anytime I have prayed the prayer "Lord please show me that you are still here," I have seen a cardinal. This morning when I drove several of my girls home we saw a cardinal. I was amazed that GOD would choose to reveal HIMSELF through the thing that HE has used so many times to comfort me, not only to myself but also to girls in our youth group. It was an amazing experience! 

I am so grateful for the way GOD uses every moment to bring about HIS miracles. I am grateful for the whisper through the thunder, for the rainbows after the storms, for the love note HE wrote us through the Bible, for the body of the church, for the cardinal HE sends when I need HIS presence the most & for the individual way HE reveals HIMSELF to each of HIS children. As I pray for the Contact kids tonight, as well as Contact's staff, I pray that GOD continues to speak volumes to HIS children! I pray that HE opens our eyes to see the miracles in every moment...

"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you & not to harm you, to give you hope & a future!"
-Jeremiah 29:11