THANK YOU 'MA'

This was copied and pasted from I'm Mostly Known As "MA"s blog ON THE BRIGHT SIDE. It is a blog full of positivity and encouragement, and this little piece of advice is something I'm taking to heart.

Decide to be happy today, to live with what is yours – your family, your business, your job, your luck. If you can’t have what you like, maybe you can like what you have.

Just for today, be kind, cheerful, agreeable, responsive, caring, and understanding. Be your best, dress your best, talk softly, and look for the bright side of things. Praise people for what they do and do not criticize them for what they cannot do. If someone does something stupid, forgive and forget. After all, it’s just for one day.

Who knows, it might turn out to be a nice day.

DO IT FOR AN AUDIENCE OF ONE

Whatever you do, work at it with all

your heart, as working for the Lord,

not for human masters,

(Colossians 3:23)

The other day was a pity party type of day, as I wondered yet again why I bother writing or offering to share my testimony, and why every time something looks promising and I get all excited about it, it falls flat. 

For as long as I can remember, my heart's desire has been to make a difference and to feel significant, but other than for the brief period of time when I was a published numerologist deeply steeped in New Age and occult practices, back in the days before the Lord rescued me from the dark path I was on, no one seems interested in anything I have to offer. 

A memory that showed up on my Facebook wall recently convicted me to ask the question, "who am I doing it for?"  It was a post written by Nightbirde, a beautiful soul who was an incredible inspiration and encouragement, and yet who never knew just how many lives she had impacted and made a difference to.

Not that I compare myself to her in any way, but her words hit home. Especially the part about what she learned from one of her journalism professors about the difference between a story worth writing and a public relations stunt. A real story still has meaning even if no one ever hears it; a PR stunt only matters if people are watching.

Each life is a unique story, and even if we are not all that we wish we were, and no one else ever knows about it, it is still a story worth hearing. Those thoughts, and my devotional this morning entitled "An Audience of One," reminded me that we are all Divine originals, created on purpose by an intentional God to fulfill a special purpose no one else can fulfill (Psalm 139:13-16). Whatever we do should be for His glory.

It's not about us; it's not about me. Each one of us has a unique story with special meaning even if no one else ever knows about it. Even if we are not all that we wish we were, it is still a story worth hearing. 

And so, back to the question I started out with, about why bother writing something so few people read, it's because using the gift the Lord created me to use is my gift back to Him. I am promising myself that going forward, I will write for an audience of One, trusting that He will put whatever He inspires me to write in the hands of whoever the message is intended for, in His perfect time and way.

LET IT GO

Be still, and know that I am God. -- Psalm 46:10a

Letting go is what I'm working on.

When I obeyed the prompt to let it go in the midst of a very frustrating situation this week, all the inner turmoil I had been experiencing was instantly replaced with an amazing peace. It made me want to practice letting go of so much more than just frustrating situations.

There are many aspects of my life that feel overwhelming. 

Even though I know God is in control, that He loves me, and that I can trust Him, I'm still experiencing quite a bit of fear about the unknown, and about the things I can't control. 

My eyes are gradually being opened to the fact that most of my faith is in my head. It has not yet become incorporated into my heart. 

Writing this post feels a little scary, because it means if I truly mean what I say, and I do, my faith will be tested. This earth is like a classroom where those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ are being conformed into His image, and the only way to know whether we have really learned a lesson or not, is by how we respond when we are tested. 

What the Lord has been showing me is that I have a long, long way to go.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. -- Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV

As my experience this week so aptly showed me, when we recognize God's sovereignty and let go, we leave room for Him to move, and His ways and His timing are so much better than ours.

****************************

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 4:6-7, NIV

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! -- Isaiah 26:3, NLT

LOOK UP INSTEAD OF AROUND

The wildflowers I planted on my balcony did really well this summer . The packet of seeds said they would attract butterflies and hummingbirds. I felt full of hope.

One morning I heard chirping. I looked to see where it was coming from and saw a little bird perched on the rail next to the hanging pot of yellow and white flowers, chirping its little heart out. It made my own heart soar with thanksgiving. I was full of eager anticipation at the thought of what else the flowers would attract.

Several days later, I glimpsed a flurry of movement out of the corner of my eye. It turned out to be a hummingbird flitting from the pot of yellow flowers pictured above to the pot of blue ones on the table across from them. It hovered there for a while, drinking long and deep.

I could hardly contain my excitement. For sure it would be back and bring along some friends. But it didn't. In fact, I never saw another bird of any kind the rest of the summer, nor any butterflies either.

It made me sad. Not so much the lack of butterflies, because I have hardly seen any this year in my neck of the woods--not even out by the flower beds in the courtyard. But I did feel crushed by disappointment that there were no more hummingbirds. What happened? The one I had seen seemed to really be enjoying the flowers. 

And then my thoughts turned to a place where they should not have gone.

My disappointment over the hummingbird that never returned led to thoughts of other disappointments and dashed expectations. I thought of people, who at first seemed to want to be friends, and it made me so happy I had already started thanking the Lord for sending them my way, but then nothing ever came of it. 

Like the hummingbird, they were attracted to something about me, but I failed to live up to their expectations. 

Those were just fleeting thoughts though, and it took hardly any time before I reminded myself that things aren't always the way they seem. I thought of how many times I have jumped to wrong conclusions that turned out not to be what I thought at all. Maybe the hummingbird did come back, but I didn't see it. Only God knows the whole story. 

When I look up instead of around, I feel enormous gratitude for Jesus and for His unconditional love. A love that cannot be earned, and that is not contingent on the things that I do or that I have to offer. A love that is so great that He shed His blood for me on the Cross (and for you too, dear reader, if anyone is reading this) so that we could be forgiven of our sins, adopted into the family of God, and receive the gift of eternal life. 

I know that He will never leave me or forsake me, and that He is always at my side.

-----------------------------------------------------

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -- John 3:16, NIV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. -- Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- Romans 8:38-39, ESV