We had the opportunity to share a small glimpse of the vision that God has laid on our hearts to our church family last night. It was an incredible evening of hearing about many different ways that our local church body is getting involved with God's plan for the nations. And now we get to extend the sweetness of Sager Creek to Kenya. The whole evening was pretty fabulous and came together so well. There is nothing like seeing the man you love cry as he communicates how he has seen God work. It is overwhelming and beautiful and makes me bawl every time I listen to him. I was primarily responsible for organizing the food (not because of any awesome capabilities I have. Just because I really like to eat.) :) And even that was so seamless and simple. It is true that many hands make light work. But what is even more true than that... we are greatly loved by a beautiful community.
I find myself constantly saying thank you these days. It is incredibly humbling to be on the receiving end of so much blessing. People have been joining our support team with amazing financial gifts that don't even make sense to me. We have prayer warriors going forward on our behalf. My gifted friends have been in and out of our house the last few weeks...styling bookshelves, helping me clean out closets, and hauling and pricing tubs and tubs of items that are non essential to our lives anymore. And all I can say is thank you. There have been a few that have said things like, "It's because you guys are so great." Or, "We think you're pretty amazing." But I know the truth. I am not amazing. I am a depraved, sinful wreck. But a redeeming God loves me and has given me beauty for my ashes. And surrounded me with some of the most generous members of his body. Perhaps in that way I am a wee bit amazing-- I choose pretty fabulous people to surround myself with. I will happily call that out as my claim to fame. :) But the real truth is that we serve a great God who tenderly loves us through his people.
The Lord brought back to mind some words I read a few weeks ago in "Streams in the Desert" by L.B. Cowman. She began with Malachi 3:10 "Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." She goes on to say, "Here is what God is saying in this verse: 'My dear child, I still have floodgates in heaven, and they are still in service. The locks open as easily as before, and the hinges have not grown rusty. In fact, I would rather throw them open to pour out blessings than hold them back... And I will open them for you...' I will never forget my mother's concise paraphrase of Malachi 3:10. The actual Bible text begins with the words 'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse' and ends with 'I will...pour out so much blessing that, ' in effect, 'you will be embarrassed over your lack of space to receive it.' But my mother's paraphrase was this: 'Give all He asks and take all He promises.'"
I am almost "embarrassed over my lack of space" to receive all the blessing the Lord is pouring out. And forgive me if you've offered to help during this process and we haven't utilized your gifts yet. I would love to in the future and for now please know that we have been very blessed. So I will just sit back and be thankful. There are seasons that God calls us to give, and there are seasons that he calls us to receive. I pray that we can receive graciously in this season. Please know our hearts-- that we can never say thank you enough. But we can continue to walk the path he has laid before us in obedience. We will "bring our tithe into the storehouse" by offering him ourselves, and will continue to be overwhelmed by the blessing that he is pouring out on us through you.
No comments:
Post a Comment