Love Covers, so Go!
Do you ever feel trapped? I do, and today I realized that it's not other people getting in my way, but my own fears. I'm frustrated that I have them.
In the book, The Dynamics of Grace, it says that these are dams in our ponds, which prevent the flow of God's grace and love from flowing fully through me to others. Fear is one of those dams.
I have done many fearful things in my life when I believed it was God telling me to do them. Some of them would cause rational people to coil back, or, if they knew would try and talk me out of them. Such as, when one of the four men who broke into my house when I was there by myself 15 years ago, was released from jail, I felt the Lord telling me to be there when he was released, and ask to talk with him. I took him one of my teddy bears, because I knew something about him that happened when he was a young toddler which was so sad, and felt that somehow God would use it to bring him comfort. I also gave him the name of a minister in his neighborhood, who had agreed to talk to him when he was released. Of course my prayer in all of this, was that he would find the Lord, and receive Him, as I knew that was the only way for him to reverse the destructive cycle he was in, and find new life.
I stepped out this time in faith believing that God would enable me by His power, and that He would keep me safe. Can you imagine what the D.A. thought and the surrounding law enforcement officials when they saw me, the victim of the crime, asking to talk with the perpetrator when he was released from jail that day? (I look at that, and even think myself to be crazy, and would have been if it was "me" and not "Him in me.") I know God must have used that to speak to them.
Sometimes when I am just living the normal life (or should I say "the self indulgent life") I think I am not serving God. My desire is that I would be helping the outcast, the suffering, the down-trodden, and the mentally and emotionally bereft, every day of my life. But, I'm out here in the middle of a cow pasture, and I don't know how to make that happen.
So, I "sigh," and "wait" and "watch" hoping I don't miss it when the opportunities present themselves. I think I'm ready-well, atleast I'm willing, and as I relay a past occasion of "stepping out" with trust in God's everlasting arms holding me, I am encouraged by His love and care of me when I do.
Someone once said, "Do it in fear." That has helped me remember that the fear we have doesn't have to be gone as we go, but when we trust God to do it through us, His love for us and others will overide it, because "perfect love casts out fear."
In the book, The Dynamics of Grace, it says that these are dams in our ponds, which prevent the flow of God's grace and love from flowing fully through me to others. Fear is one of those dams.
I have done many fearful things in my life when I believed it was God telling me to do them. Some of them would cause rational people to coil back, or, if they knew would try and talk me out of them. Such as, when one of the four men who broke into my house when I was there by myself 15 years ago, was released from jail, I felt the Lord telling me to be there when he was released, and ask to talk with him. I took him one of my teddy bears, because I knew something about him that happened when he was a young toddler which was so sad, and felt that somehow God would use it to bring him comfort. I also gave him the name of a minister in his neighborhood, who had agreed to talk to him when he was released. Of course my prayer in all of this, was that he would find the Lord, and receive Him, as I knew that was the only way for him to reverse the destructive cycle he was in, and find new life.
I stepped out this time in faith believing that God would enable me by His power, and that He would keep me safe. Can you imagine what the D.A. thought and the surrounding law enforcement officials when they saw me, the victim of the crime, asking to talk with the perpetrator when he was released from jail that day? (I look at that, and even think myself to be crazy, and would have been if it was "me" and not "Him in me.") I know God must have used that to speak to them.
Sometimes when I am just living the normal life (or should I say "the self indulgent life") I think I am not serving God. My desire is that I would be helping the outcast, the suffering, the down-trodden, and the mentally and emotionally bereft, every day of my life. But, I'm out here in the middle of a cow pasture, and I don't know how to make that happen.
So, I "sigh," and "wait" and "watch" hoping I don't miss it when the opportunities present themselves. I think I'm ready-well, atleast I'm willing, and as I relay a past occasion of "stepping out" with trust in God's everlasting arms holding me, I am encouraged by His love and care of me when I do.
Someone once said, "Do it in fear." That has helped me remember that the fear we have doesn't have to be gone as we go, but when we trust God to do it through us, His love for us and others will overide it, because "perfect love casts out fear."
posted by Patti Blount @ 8:41 AM
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