Glow in the dark Silly Putty.
Yes, I’m blogging about silly putty.
Why, you ask?
#1 I have a 3 year old boy.
#2 I have been spending countless hours holding the silly
putty under a light so it would glow in the dark.
# 3 He keeps saying, ‘do it again mommy.’ So, I feel
compelled to hold the putty under the light.
Today he asked me, why I was holding it under the light. I
started explaining to him, that for the putty to glow in the dark, it must
remain in the light, and return to the light.
And it hit me… You probably know where I’m going…
For us to make a true difference; for us to be a light in
the darkness, we must spend time in the light.
The longer we stay in the light, the longer we will glow in
the dark.
It seems so simple, but do we truly take this to heart?
We are in a battle you know. We are in a battle of
distraction. We are in the ‘phone age’ and this is definitely worse than the
computer age, or even the gaming age. We are in a busy time on the kingdom
calendar. We have jobs, school, friends, church, practice, tv, movies and any
other activity that keeps us occupied (especially the phone.) We run from place
to place, activity to activity and land at home ready to jump into bed, all to
start over again at dawn the next morning.
No wonder we are having a hard time being effective in the
darkness.
Since moving last month, my time with Jesus has dwindled. I
can feel it. I can tell, and I’m exhausted. We truly find rest in him.
So now it’s time. It’s time to turn back. Time to get into
the word. The word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. How? When I
read the word of God, It’s alive and active. I stop to think and pray before I
make decisions.
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the
desires of your heart. What does that mean? When I enjoy spending time with
God, truly seeking him, talking to him, giving everything over to him and
trusting him with it, then he starts putting desires in our hearts that are of
him. Joe and I spent a lot of time seeking God in a personal way over the last
few years. We could feel him moving, and we wanted to make sure we were moving
in his direction. The more we spent time and sought him the more he lightened
our path. Answers weren’t always in front of us and we did not know the end
result, but I believe he led us here now because we sought him back there then.
Spending that time with him gave us the strength and power
to go through several moves, not really knowing where we were going to end up.
It also zeroed us in on his will. (Psalm 25:4) It brought us to a point to
blindly trust when things seemed dark - like a hurricane almost derailing the
sale of our house.
Spending that time with him also brought us to a place of
humbleness and listening. The more you spend time with God, the more you
realize you don’t know. He is always showing new things and new ideas. If we
had been hard hearted, we would have missed this door he was opening.
Spending that time with him fine-tuned our faith. We were
literally stepping out and then answers would come. We lived with family, we
moved into a rental – never understanding what was taking so long to get settled
– well, we weren’t settling there. God wanted us here.
I want to recommend a book, Made For This by Jennie Allen. I know I have mentioned it before,
but Joe and I were going through this together and God brought us to a point of
surrender that led us to his perfect will. Once we made the step to move yet
again, God started showering us with confirmation. We found a house before we
had the job acceptance letter. People we did not know cleaned our house before
we moved (and now that we know those people, we love them.) They prayed over
our house. They welcomed us with warmth and love. We have truly felt at home
since we have arrived. It’s funny that our Pastor says ‘welcome home’ on Sunday
mornings during the service. He doesn’t know it, but we know those words are
straight from God to us.
It’s time to get back in the light. God has a mission for us
all. The mission lies in dark places that haven’t seen the light. For us to be
strong and useable in the dark, we must stay connected to the light. Talk to
God. Tell him what you need. Ask him what he wants you to do this day for him.
Ask him everyday. Read his word. Find a great bible study, book or podcast that
draws you closer. If you need recommendations, let me or Joe know. I am going
to list a few of our prayer / faith reviver books. Stay in the light. It’s time
to glow in the dark.
Books:
The Circle Maker
by Mark Batterson (Prayer)
Fresh Wind Fresh Fire
by Jim Cymbala (Prayer / Faith)
Made for This by
Jennie Allen (Surrender)
Whisper by Mark
Batterson (Listening to God)
Ragamuffin Gospel
by Brennan Manning (God’s unconditional love / grace)
Believing God
Bible Study by Beth Moore (Believing God)
Dream of You by Jo
Saxton (Becoming who God created you to be.)
The Bible 😊
I love the Psalms, I spent years in them when we lived in NYC and God has used
them over and over in my life because David cries out to God openly and
honestly.
The
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. Acts. Romans, etc.
The
story of Joseph Genesis 37-50.
Creation
– Genesis 1-2.,
Noah,
Jonah, Elijah, Elisha, Joshua, Abraham
There is so much in the Bible. So many ways God speaks
through his word. Why aren’t we in it more? (and I’m talking to myself)
I know I keep saying it, but it’s time. I am praying God
reestablishes a love for his word in us. I am praying that we are eager to get
up and meet him in the morning and wait expectantly (Psalm 5.) I pray that we
ask, seek and find (Matthew 7:7.) I am praying for a revival of souls to get
back into his word and to walk boldly into the darkness, finding the lost sheep
Jesus longs to rescue. If we don’t, who will? It is up to us to make a choice
to go. It is up to us to stay in the light. It is up to us to be bold in the
dark. It is up to us. We are the hands and feet who bring the good news. Let’s
make sure we know enough about the word to know what the good news is.
Let’s go.
No comments:
Post a Comment