I attended a staff meeting tonight. I love going to them. I learn so much from the other members of our team and the planning is always refreshing. I know, you wouldn’t think so, but it is. I always leave the meeting energized.
After the meetings, I always visit my grandmothers. They both live in the same apartment building, so I get to spend time with both of them in one night. Love that! And they both crack me up. I spend my whole night laughing with them. Tonight, I ended up spending a ton of time with the one I call “Nanny.” This woman is filled to the brim with wisdom and biblical knowlege. I could sit and learn from her for hours. Well, that’s pretty much what I did tonight. I didn’t get home until 10pm! lol
So Nanny and I talked about a lot of things. Because of that, I have a million things running through my head right now. Forgive me if I ramble. I’m kind of sorting through my thoughts as I type here.
One thing we talked about was free will. I am amazed that God would choose to give us free will. I mean, He is omnipotent & omnipresent (He knows all and is in all places). He IS what real power is. When He created us, He could have very easily chosen not to give us free will. And yet, here I am, with the choice to love Him or ignore Him. And because of that, I love Him even more. None of my children have ever turned their backs on me. I can’t imagine the pain that must cause. And if I had control over it, I would NEVER choose to give them the opportunity to do it. And yet, when choosing to give us free will, the Lord knew that it was a possibility that we would not choose to love Him. The magnitude of that is so far beyond my understanding, I should just shut up about it now.
Another thing we talked about was the signs of the return of Jesus. We talked about how in Matthew ch. 24, the disciples were asking Jesus to tell them how they would know when He was returning. He told them what to look for. Go read it. It’s really impressive. But we focused our conversation on the return of the Jews to Isreal. That conversation turned to the history of the Jewish people.
Nanny was telling me that one of her neighbors is a Jewish man (by birth, not necessarily by faith) who knows nothing of his heritage. She and I were both shocked that he would not know such a rich history of his own people. So she’s been sharing with him the stories of such great men as Joshua, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, David, etc. We got to talking about some of those amazing stories and how we can learn from them and apply those lessons to our own lives.
And that conversation led to our continual learning from the Bible. Isn’t it funny how you can read chapter in the Bible and it change your entire life. And then two or three years later you can read the same exact words and it change your life in an entirely different way?! The Word is still alive and active.
And that conversation got us talking about how Jesus is the Word and He is ALIVE! He conquered death and the grave and through Him we can have eternal life!!!! So since He is the Word and He is alive, it makes perfect sense that the Word (scripture) is alive and active and still changing lives today. My life, your life, all our lives!
And that conversation got us talking about how when you are saved through grace, the Holy Spirit enters in and begins to change you from the inside out. And suddenly your focus changes. Now keep in mind my Nanny is in her 80’s. But she told me tonight that she’s like an artisian spring (did I spell that right?). She said you can put your hands over the opening of the spring to try to hold the water in, but the water is so powerful that it pushes through your fingers and gets out anyway. You just can’t hold it in. She said that the Holy Spirit is like that inside her….she can’t hold it in. She can’t help but witness to the people she comes in contact with. There’s no holding it in. She says that she knows not everybody wants to talk about it, but she can’t help it. It just keeps pouring out of her!
So that made me think of an email that I got from a friend of mine earlier this week. If you’ve read through all of my crazy thinking, then you deserve a little treat. I’m going to share this email tidbit with you. I hope it encourages you like it encouraged me. And remember, if my Nanny (in her 80’s) can still be used as a powerful witness for the Lord, so can you!!!!! Now on to the email…..
The next time you feel like God can’t use you, just remember…..
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul persecuted Christians
Timothy had an ulcer….AND
Lazarus was DEAD!!!!
God can use us to our full potential. Besides, we aren’t the message….just the messenger.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. – Matt. 5:16
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exhalted among the heathen, I will be exhalted in the earth. – Ps. 46:10
