Before we embark for a time on dreams and visions, it occurred to me to tell you why I haven’t posted for a while. As some of you know, my husband, Tim, went to Kansas to care for his earthly father after a stroke. On May 21, the Lord took Tim’s dad home and we have been in a whirlwind of activity since. The amount of work families must do to “take care of things” after a death is really astounding. I’ve been back and forth to Kansas, packing furniture, helping with the estate, and generally just trying to help Tim.
All the while, I kept thanking God for the life of Tim’s dad, for the blessings He has given us to see us through this thing, and for His peace. You know, Tim lost his job over this business, but every day he would wake up, thank God for the increase in time, and go to work. While he was in Kansas, Tim completed his third album, which will be a true testament to God’s glory when it comes out this fall.
All of this reminded me that while you we are busy with other things, we must always take the time to move up, spiritually speaking. But if our plans are to systematically study the Bible or to spend three hours a day praying, those plans may seem daunting as our time dwindles. So what I do when the world presses in on me is to simply monitor what I hear, see, and experience. Don’t get me wrong, I still read the Word every day – it’s become a habit for me. But when I don’t have nearly the amount of time I would like to study God’s word, I become a faithful monitor of what I do have going on in my life. When the radio is on, I turn to a Christian music station (I call it Satan repellant). When the TV is on, I try to find a good Christian speaker (like Charles Stanley, Ravi Zacharias, or Alistair Begg) or at least a God-inspired movie or uplifting sports show. At all times, I try to guard my thoughts from the destructive mantras of secular humanism, agnosticism, and atheism. And if you make a conscious effort to do the same thing, you will find small bits of soul-filling Christian inspiration that will carry you through hard times by reminding you who you really work for. If you look hard enough for them, you’ll find them in the most amazing places.
For example, the other night I was tired after moving furniture and I just wanted to watch something on TV while I got ready for bed. The first channel I turned to had Nik Wallenda tightrope walking across Niagara Falls. “Oh great,” I thought, “just what I need – some guy trying to impress humanity by doing some meaningless act on national television while everyone sits and waits for him to fall.” Just as I was about to turn the channel, they said they were going to listen in on Nik as he spoke to his team via radio. The announcers drew silent, and suddenly you could hear Nik saying, over and over, “thank you Jesus, thank you Lord.” Turns out that Nik was praying his way across the Falls, giving God the glory for all that was going on in his life, and basically evangelizing to the world. My heart jumped and I quickly realized that this was the bit of inspiration I was looking for. Nik was more than just a tightrope walker – he was God’s tightrope walker. And I am more than just someone cleaning up after someone else had passed on – I am an image-bearer working for God’s glory.
Thank you, Father, for allowing me the opportunity to do your work in this world, and to tell others that I do it all to glorify you.
Arming The Saints Blog 