I want to share an adventure I had with God yesterday but first I want to share a bit of background. K?
I used to do something called striving. I did it a lot and with great intentions. I so deeply desired to be useful to God. I wanted to help change the world with Him. I used to do things like...
...over think
...worry if it was His voice
...try to create God moments
...beat myself up for not doing enough
...spend more time thinking of how I can show others Jesus instead of loving Him myself
I think it's a common thing since those of us who grew up in the church often heard things like "who are you sharing Jesus with? are you being a good witness? we need to share the gospel."
It's not that I don't believe in those things, I do. I just didn't know that the best way to do all three things is to know Him, know His ways and to know His heart. Ultimately, love Him.
By doing those things, you can't help but love the Father deeply.
It's all about loving Him.
I did know about Him and had experienced his love, grace and mercy and yet somehow I wasn't fully in love with Him. Now, when I think about my King one of three things happens, my heart beats fast and I need to catch my breath, my eyes fill with tears of joy or a big fat smile comes across my face, one that can't be peeled off easily.
I love Him.
So, yesterday while making some diffuser jewelry for Cedar & Honey, I was watching THIS video by Shawn Bolz. He reminded me of some beautiful truths that God had made very real to me in the last couple years. One of those truths is that we don't need to strive. We don't even need to be "on our game" to be used by God and to show others who He is. He shares some pretty awesome stories....but before you go watch Shawn's awesome video, first read my little story ;)
After getting all orders made I was off to the Post Office, a place where I've already adventured with Jesus. More on that HERE
I was feeling so refreshed and excited to boldly do something with God. Instead of planning a God moment, over thinking it or spending time thinking about how I can share Jesus, I simply told Him
"I'm listening for you and want to adventure your way God".
Then I got in my car and went about my business.
I got to the post office and the regular woman that processes my orders was there waiting but she was missing her usual smile. I asked her how she was doing and she explained that she has had a debilitating headache for 4 days and is on a lot of meds to be able to be at work.
I thought, ok good.....something to pray for. Before I said anything out loud about praying, I asked myself if I believed that Jesus could heal her. Then I asked myself if I believed that he wanted to heal her.
Yes! & Yes!
He can and he wants to was my internal dialogue. I already know this as a fact but to think about it in the moment made it that much more real and personal to the one woman right in front of me. There were a couple people behind me in line and I felt that it wasn't the right moment to ask her if I could pray so once my packages were processed I went to grab something else I needed. I came back and she was standing behind her desk with no customers so I took my chance.
This is what I did.
I told her that I am a Christian and that sometimes when I pray for people they get healed by God (<--- It's true, I've experienced healings or I would have just said that I believe He can heal her) and that I believe he wants to heal her head. Then I asked her if I could pray for her. I'm not sure I can quite describe her response. She was smiling so big and was clearly feeling the presence of the Lord, as was I. She was almost giddy when she said that she would like me to pray. As soon as I said that I would just pray right then and there, a customer walked up. She was clearly very uncomfortable and said that she better not let me pray while another customer was there. I told her that was ok because I was going to go to my car and pray for her healing. The excitement in her eyes was just beautiful! I would have stuck around but it was time for me to pick the boys up from school.
I walked away and could feel the presence of God so strong. Ha! He had already shown up! I began praying for her head right away and got excited at not only the healing work He wanted to do in this woman's body but also in her heart. I'm so overjoyed about the work that He has begun and can't wait to see this story unfold.
There it was, right in the middle of my regular life - an adventure with Jesus.
Sometimes we make life with God more complicated than it needs to be. He isn't waiting for perfect moments with the perfect person. I didn't do anything special except tell my King, while in the middle of doing my stuff, that He has my ear and that I want to do things with Him.
Maybe one day I'll sell all my possessions and move across the country to be a missionary or something super dramatic like that. For now, I'm going to focus on the mission field I'm in.
OOOO <------- hugs from Sue
