Encouragement

Funny how God works, isn't it? I had just posted today about someone being a great encouragement to me and not but a few hours later, I was able to be an encouragement to another gal!

I love that!

Who has encouraged you today? Who have you encouraged today? Ideally, there should be a name for each question that you can answer! That's the way life in community works.

Sweet Words From a Friend

How do you place a value on the encouragement of a friend? What price would you put on someone stepping out of their busy life for one moment just for you? To lift you up and speak words of love over you?

Well....that just happened to me! And it's priceless!

After reading some of my recent blog postings, a friend took time out of her incredibly busy day to ask me how things are going....to say that she'd been thinking about me....to encourage me to keep up the faith and to keep going.

I'd say she completely fulfilled the admonition in Ephesians 4:29:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building other up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Thanks, friend....you know who you are! But you don't know much you mean to me and how much I value you!

Gifts, Talents, and Abilities

This Friday begins our homeschool co-op for spring. This is no small 3-family co-op....our co-op has over 100 families and there are 400 people on our church campus each Friday! It is a large endeavor!

I am the director of this machine....and I LOVE IT!!! This position fits my gifts, talents, and abilities....and certainly falls right in line with my passion...homeschooling and helping to encourage others who want to homeschool.

Yes, there are frustrating days....Yes, there are days that it crosses my mind to drop this off my schedule...Yes, I want to keep doing to even with that!

What I have discovered and have been reminded time and time again, is that God has given me certain abilities and it's OK to work within those. It's not more spiritual for me to be miserable, necessarily. It's that I am to be wherever God has called and when I do that, I am not going to be completely frustrated always...I am not going to be completely miserable...I am not going to feel as though it's drudgery all days. I am going to feel more encouraged and uplifted by working within my abilities.

What are your abilities, gifts, and talents? Are you working there?

Pride

I have a lot of flaws! But I have been working on one in particular over the last several days....pride! My pride manifests itself in thinking that I have to do everything myself...and that I am the only one who can do it correctly.

Now...I HAVE had many times of being encouraged to think that as I have delegated things to be done and they haven't been done...

BUT...that having been said, I have been very guilty of taking on too much and leaving co-laborers feeling inadequate and unnecessary. I haven't asked for help or tried to find out areas in which my fellow workers are gifted.

The Lord has convicted me of this and I am actively working on it. The initial results have been super positive! Those who work with me seem to be happier....seem to feel as though they are valued and needed....! Once again, God is working in me!!!!

Faith of a Child

Two boys were in the living room while I was in another room the other day. I begin to overhear a conversation and it went something like this:

Rawley (age 4): Rainey, why did God make the world?
Rainey (age 7): So that he would be friends with all the people. But he doesn't make you be friends with him, but he would love it very much if you did. We need to be friends with God so that we go to Heaven one day. Well, we don't need God, we could become like God IF we did everything perfect all the time and never messed up. But we can't do that. We keep getting tempted to do the wrong thing and we all end up doing the wrong thing. So we need God.

Isn't this the stuff that theologians debate ad nauseum? Isn't this the stuff in which folks get the most detailed degrees in seminary? Isn't this the stuff that fill books ad infinitum? Seems to me like a 7 year old cut through it pretty quickly!

It made me smile because when you teach something to others you really come to master the material even more....Rainey was teaching Rawley. It made me smile because it means that Rainey has heard that information more than once and I can tell you he's never heard it just like that....so he was able to compile the info and come up with his own version. It made me smile because it means the God has got HIS hands on Rainey!

Over My Head

Do you ever feel over your head? I am feeling like that right now. A bit in a quandry as to what to do. I am seeking the Lord and am waiting for His answer. So that tells me that I need to wait where I am....but boy, do I feel out of my element!

So until I hear clearly from God, I will remain where I am and try to keep my head above the waterline!