Check-In

Thank you for checking back.  I haven't "written" this off.  (Hardy har har). I've had a lot going on.  I don't generally have much time to blog but January had a few projects that kept me busy.  One of which was A LOT of testimony and prep for an upcoming class that I am facilitating.

Tonight my class started.  It is a post abortion bible study. Between the testimony and tonight, there have been several things that I've tried to capture. I hope to post about them soon to shed a different light on the subject.  That's your cue that some more posts are coming about it, just in case it makes you squeamish.  -Know that it makes me squeamish too. It should.

With that same token, God is working. He continues to surprise me. He encourages me to keep pushing through the squeamish, to find the blessing on the other side. I hope that by my posts, either someone considering an abortion will change their mind.  Or someone who has had an abortion, will find God's grace and their own self acceptance. Even more so, I hope that someone can find forgiveness from both of those parties.

I feel like there are a lot of other posts mixed between. Even though I don't know when or how, I am hopeful that the opportunities to write surprise me. I am quite tired and need to go for now.

I'd just like to note that it is an incredible blessing to know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be in life. I praise God for that! His love endures forever.

R

Life Sanctity

**I backdated this post to keep the events in order.  It seemed like it might keep things easier to follow. 

I hadn’t planned on writing this month. However, this is Human Life Sanctity week and I spoke at church this this past Sunday (January 19). If you're not familiar with Human Life Sanctity, it was established in 1983 by Ronald Reagan as a reminder of the value of Human Life. Every year it falls on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of Rowe verses Wade being passed by congress.

You may not remember but last March I shared my darkest secret. 

This past Sunday for the first time ever, I gave a public testimony not only mentioning my abortion but the whole testimony was about the subject. I gave it in both services. I wrestled with words, not wanting to repeat what I've already written here.  I rehearsed it 20 times in the bathroom mirror hoping to not have to refer to notes on stage, but had to anyway. The day before, I was diagnosed with strep and felt completely miserable and drained. I knew it was the devil trying to keep me from getting up there.

I had a tremendous amount of support from members and staff. People prayed with me and encouraged me. On stage I was okay with what I had to say, aside from feeling physically ill. 

After service people came up to offer more encouragement. -To offer help for my classes in any way that they could by, baking snacks, providing resources and/or time, etc… For some reason, I never saw any of that coming.

A couple told me that their daughter was called out to some pro-abortion events. (I may have misunderstood). They said that their daughter was able to save lives when she went to these things and that she just got called to another event. My testimony helped them have peace with what she was doing. I hate that I didn't get their names or the details straight but people were lining up from each direction to speak. It was a bustle of hugs and tears and introductions. Many names I wished that I had gotten, or would've been able to remember.

There was a sweet lady that was interrupted and went away in tears. Her son has tried to kill himself over choosing an abortion 4 years ago. I wanted to make everything stop so that I could go catch her but another face came into view and another story. She vanished before I could lift my hand.

As I left the church my mind was reeling. Days have gone by and I have no new registrations for the class. Maybe all of this was only to create awareness. What else could I have said…?

To say that I am surprised by the way that these things are unfolding is an understatement. It was fear that kept me from having a child. It was fear that kept me from facing God or even myself after. It was fear that kept me from bringing it up again after it had been ‘dealt with’. It was fear that kept me from wanting to include it in the sum of my truths to people that barely know me. 

However, the realities of opening up to that truth in addition to so many others has brought so much more freedom.  It has further ignited the desire within me to reach out and just keep reaching. -To open up and fight to stay open. God has met me every single time and brought his entourage of angels and friends for my behalf as he has promised. While I can't go back and no longer try to; I am now convinced that he would've met me just as strongly back then as he is doing now, had I only sought his hand. Despite my rebellion, he is still with me.

I don’t know where you are in your journey friend but do not be afraid. As it states in Isaiah 41, the Lord is with you. The chapter is long but the first 16 verses just seemed to reverberate through me as I reflect on the truths I’ve learned and am still learning. Where ever you are, press on friend, press on. You are NOT alone.

¹“Be silent before me, you islands!

    Let the nations renew their strength!

Let them come forward and speak;

    let us meet together at the place of judgment.

² “Who has stirred up one from the east,

    calling him in righteousness to his service^[a]?

    Jacob, whom I have chosen,

He hands nations over to him

    and subdues kings before him.

He turns them to dust with his sword,

    to windblown chaff with his bow.

³ He pursues them and moves on unscathed,

    by a path his feet have not traveled before.

⁴ Who has done this and carried it through,

    calling forth the generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord—with the first of them

    and with the last—I am he.”

⁵ The islands have seen it and fear;

    the ends of the earth tremble.

They approach and come forward;

⁶     they help each other

    and say to their companions, “Be strong!”

⁷ The metalworker encourages the goldsmith,

    and the one who smooths with the hammer

    spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.

One says of the welding, “It is good.”

    The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.

⁸ “But you, Israel, my servant,

    you descendants of Abraham my friend,

⁹ I took you from the ends of the earth,

    from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, ‘You are my servant’;

    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

¹¹ “All who rage against you

    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;

those who oppose you

    will be as nothing and perish.

¹² Though you search for your enemies,

    you will not find them.

Those who wage war against you

    will be as nothing at all.

¹³ For I am the Lord your God

    who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

    I will help you.

¹⁴ Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,

    little Israel, do not fear,

for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord,

    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,

    new and sharp, with many teeth.

You will thresh the mountains and crush them,

    and reduce the hills to chaff.

¹⁶ You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,

    and a gale will blow them away.

But you will rejoice in the Lord

    and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Click here to read the remaining verses (through 29).

Bible Studies Coming Soon

I am currently planning two Bible Studies. Here is information about both of them. Please feel free to share them with your friends. If you or someone else is interested in attending, please let me know.  You can call me at 804-815-8076 or you can email me at faithunfoldingblog@gmail.com 


The first:

Thursday Nights @ 6:30 (Exact time might vary pending participation)

Starts February 06, 2014

This study will NOT be held on church grounds. 

It will be in Gloucester County. (Location will be determined after full head count)

For more information you can click here.

The class is twelve weeks in length and each meeting is 2 1/2 hours.

Child care will NOT be provided.

There is no cost to participate.

The second: 

There are no other details at this time. There will be at least 6 sessions.  More than one class might be offered. The class will most likely be in the day time. All other details are still pending. There will be no cost to participate or child care services offered.

Update 04/28/14: If you're following checking back, this study may be offered from my home over the summer. It's still on my radar. Stay tuned.

Heart Transplant

As I reflect on 2013, I have started thinking more about the shape of the full year. As if I am doing an inventory in how it compares to other years. I feel as if there has been such a significant change, it will now set a standard for the years ahead.  

I ended 2012 coming home in the evenings feeling like I had to make up for ways that I was short changing my family.  Yet how are we ever able to "make up" for eight hours of a day that we can’t be a mom (or dad), when we only have three hours at night with homework, dinner, showers, etc.??? Why do we doom ourselves with such impossible goals?

Working outside of the home is hard enough but then I tried to keep up with friends. I tried to insert more fun. I tried to sign the kids up for activities so that they wouldn't miss out. …But each one of those additions seemed to come from and create more guilt and exhaustion. They just compiled “the things to do” and instead of satisfaction or contentment; I wound up with an app on my phone that organized all of my other lists. I was flat out fried. 

I said a prayer at a woman’s retreat in the fall of 2012. In retrospect, I realize now that it was such a desperate plea of my own heart.  “I am not getting this right God. You're going to need to remove some things from me, so that I can be what you created." As a woman that was never sure on where to draw boundaries, I usually didn't define them at all. In 2013 I suddenly felt myself draw a wide one. It was a vow to do nothing more than focus on God and family because I had no idea what I was even trying to offer anymore. Something had to give. 

I created a personal challenge to get over my fear of praying out loud by accepting every request for a year. Blogging was never on the radar.  I wasn’t even sure what “blogging” was. …I was just making strange little notes. I picked 3 things in the bible that I wanted to know more about. All of that simply set the tone…

All along I kept hearing the words “own it” and “doing a new thing”. It’s as if, I had to finally take ownership of all of my little fears and insecurities, in order to pick them up and hand them over one by one to God.  Looking back now, I see that 2013 has been such a purge as a newer version of me has been birthed.  

For all of the ways that I may have ever felt inadequate, I see now that so much of that was because I was trying to focus on too many different things. -Or maybe just a lot of the wrong ones. That admission reminds me of the verse 1 Corinthians 11:3 about how we can be “led astray by such a sincere devotion”. We desire to be good at everything and in our best intentions of “showing love” and “being good” and “doing the right thing” we just keep committing and keep on doing.

The irony of that is that we are called human beings, not human doings…. Where do we make time to be??? We are led astray doing what we think is best, instead of stopping and making sure that we have the right map. We feel guilty or that something is missing and so we add something new to the mix. -Eventually reaching burn out.

Acts 8:32 refers to “sheep that are led to the slaughter.” I don’t know about you but when I hear that verse, I picture sheep on a conveyor belt. They are just moving along, in a direction that someone else designed. They might be looking around considering the direction that they are headed. They might have a sense of doom but they are still steadily moving forward.  They might even be calling out for help in their own way. Yet, they are not actively turning around and trying to get off.

There’s another verse John 10:27 that says “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.”  Those sheep, hear their master’s call and come running. They leave whatever they are doing and go searching for his voice. Seeking their master.

Have you ever looked up or even considered the difference between look and seek? Gosh, what a difference between the two!  The dictionary says that to Look is to “turn with one's eyes toward something”.  To Seek is an action that means “to go”.

To sit at church on Sunday, I am a looker.  To read another’s book, or listen to another’s words, it’s all so second hand. We are only observing evidence of someone else who sought… While we do get something from it, it is so much different than finding it for ourselves.

This year, I was seeking God.  I felt polluted for a lot of good reasons. There was enough looking in my life to know that I was missing something. I was no longer content to watch.  I had to seek, to move, to flip over, to look behind, to pick it up and shake it upside down until something falls out of it. In doing so, I developed faith.

In my quiet time I called out to God and read my bible with a new fury. The chapters in Timothy freed my heart to only focus on family. As a parent, there is no greater ministry than our children. Working outside of the home, only magnifies the importance of that ministry. It’s OK to just be a mom.  What an honor it is, to JUST BE A MOM.

Somewhere between a study in James and a study in Galatians, I was convicted of how double minded I was at the basis of my soul. I’ve cried more than ever this year. I’ve had my heart broken again and again. As painful as it sounds, it was so very freeing.

It was my seeking that ignited a fire and cultivated a hunger for the MORE of the word.  I fasted from my "go to" preachers and study material and forced myself to go to God instead. I would wake in the middle of the night and the wee hours of the morning seeking. I'd scribble notes on a bedside table so that I wouldn’t forget what was pressed upon my heart when I awoke in the morning. Then I would try to squirrel away five more minutes here and there throughout the day to get back to where I’d left off.

If I started to lull in time with God or feel less enthusiastic, I hit my knees and forced another opening. Then I had to FIGHT to keep the spot. A LOT of other things were left undone as I practiced new or different habits. I even deleted the list app on my phone and started taking naps. It might sound silly but if you are tired and booked up, what exactly are you giving God? ...or your family? You have to force some of the changes. Life will not stop because you want to but God is always ready when you are!

I think that when most people consider their path with God, they refer to the verse in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” There is such an important nugget that follows that passage. It tells you how to find that plan and sadly it is seldom referenced. “¹²Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and FIND me WHEN you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. You've got to know the maker, in order to know the plan. 

His word does not say look at me with your whole heart. It says to seek me. Verse 13 doesn't say love me with part of your heart. It says all of it. God wants to do something new in your life but you have to put something new into it. You are going to have to become uncomfortable in order to do that. Then when you get comfortable at that level, you will need to grow uncomfortable again, and then again, in order to dig deeper. 

I’ve put up some weird posts this year that might not have seemed as glorifying as I intended.  I realize though that it was such a necessary part of this transformation.  For all the self condemnation that you may read between the lines, there is a woman that is emerging that surprises even me.

To be one of his sheep means that not only do we have to wake from our slumber and answer to his call. We have to leave what we were doing and surrender at his feet. Then let him comb over us to remove our splinters and thorns. No matter how painful or obvious they are to remove. It’s only when we give him our whole heart that he can do something new with it. 

In 2013, I gave my whole heart to God.  –or at least as much as I knew how to give at the time. I finally learned how to let my relationship with him become more important. In exchange for my whole heart, he is giving me a cleaner one. I can't help but feel like the most authentic version of me yet, as I let him renew the spirit that is within me.

I can't tell you the last time that I looked back on a year without regret of some kind. If I've had any regrets about 2013, they have only been cosmetic. The positive things that have come from this year far outweigh anything deemed as loss. 2014 might bring more purging, more challenges, or another surprise for me altogether. I certainly don't have it all figured out but this is a much better place to begin a new year. I welcome all of its possibilities with open arms.

I encourage you to make spiritual goals. I've created a list with some ideas for you to review. You can search for more online. Don’t be discouraged because you don’t see or feel an immediate impact. Don’t be discouraged when you are tested by friends or loved ones or if circumstances seem to get harder. Your faith and your commitment will be tested by more than one source. A LOT. Don't be discouraged because you don't see in your own life or faith what someone else seems to display. There are a lot of different components to building faith.

You (we) have to learn how to pray, how to get something from the bible, how to be a part of a church, how to give in your own way and how to confess your secrets, in addition to other things.  Like gears on a clock, each one of those rings move and cause something to happen but it takes learning how to use them all together in order to change time. The synergy comes from having an understanding of each piece on its own. Then you can start use them together! Start small and pick one or two. If you need a recommendation, focus on your prayer life in 2014.  If you can learn how to talk to God then he can help you with all of the other pieces later. If you want a second option, pick a church. Whatever it is, pick what you can or will commit to right now.

May we all have a beautiful, blessed and deeper 2014!

Spiritual Goals

As you are considering your new year's resolutions, perhaps this year, you’ll also consider making spiritual goals. Allow your relationship with God to become a focal point and then challenge yourself to draw closer.

The goal is to pick something specific, so that throughout the year, you can see that you are making progress. Then at the end of the year, you can hopefully look back with accomplishment. Even better, ask God to give you a little testimony at the end of 2014!

Put more in: 

1. Pick one of the following subjects to learn about and start incorporating it into your life; fasting, praying, worship, bible knowledge, etc. (Click the links for some recommendations on: Hearing God Speak, Prayer, Breaking apart bible verses.)

2. Create a plan to memorize scripture.

3. Instead of picking a plan to read the bible in specified time, find a character to learn more about. Then read all of the chapters and stories about that person. Study the commentary, biographies and then research other interpretations to see how God worked in that person’s life. Practice gleaning.

     Or just commit to finally answering some of those questions that you've had about the bible.

4. Increase your day so that you can get 15+ minutes more time in with God.

5. If you don’t have a bible that you like, get a better one. Get the extra features that you want. The more that you customize it to your liking, the more you will like it.

6. Make your commute time “God time” (Smartphones can help with sermons or audiobook apps.) Checkout “Oneplace.com”

7. Commit to being a part of church regularly or increase the time that you participate. (The trick is committing to one and then letting yourself get comfortable there. Not the other way around. If you don't want to go alone, I go here. Let me know when you want to attend and I will meet you.) 

8. Start a Bible Study in your own home or attend one.

9. Use time deliberately. Instead of surfing your phone every minute that you get spare time, try to absorb the quiet from around you, or replace that surf time with prayer time or learning time.

10. Practice stilling your mind.


11. Fast from your "go to" preachers and either try new ones or go directly to the bible.

12. Move "your pew" from the one in the back to one within the first five up front.

13. Make it a goal to know everyone in your church. Most churches have different services, groups, classes, etc.  Get comfortable in one and then try another. Don't aim to do it in one year. Get to know people, but then when you start to feel settled, get to know someone else. 

14. Choose a life verse.

Put more out: 

1. Make one of the next 6 a regular challenge (daily, weekly, monthly, or every ‘as it occurs’) with God.

2. Accept every offer to pray out loud.

3. Keep extra bibles on hand so that you can share/give them when needed.  

4. Invite someone to church.

5. Figure out how or what your testimony is.

6. Then Share it!

7. Find someone new to encourage and/or commit to mentoring one person.

8. Sign up to help in an area at church.

9. Find a way to donate or contribute your work/hobby to the Lord.

10. Start a prayer or blessing journal or simply start making notes about what you’re reading and thinking about as you grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord.

Make it a group effort:

1. As a family, how can you “Pay it forward” in a way that gives God the glory? Plan a regular mission.

2. Begin to pray with your spouse or as a family, even if it starts as the blessing before dinner.

3. Include a daily/weekly family/marital devotion as part of your routine.

4. Discuss personal spiritual goals and continue to check in with each other to see how God is working with each of you.

5. Make regular goals for your family. When life offers changes, pray for the vision to see how those changes line up your goals. 

6. Find a family to mentor or open your home up to ________________.

7. Spend more time together as a family. Take turns doing together the things that each of you like, instead of doing them all separately. God first, family second. It's your most important ministry!

You can research more ideas (and even worksheets) on line.

Verse: 

2 Peter 1:5-8  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Removing The Plank | Devotion

You’re probably most familiar with the verse Matthew 7:3-5 for its stance on our judgment of others. 

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

I don’t know about you but every time I hear that word “plank”, I picture a fence post, that’s 6” wide and 8’ long or even bigger.  It’s never just a small board. For whatever reason lately, I’ve been thinking about “planks”.  Not necessarily in the tone of judgment but more so in dealing with a problem.

Have you ever tried to imagine a plank in your eye?  If not, humor me and try it now. Suppose you suddenly realize one day that you have this plank in your eye. If you were in your house, you’d probably want to go to the bathroom where there was more light and a mirror to see this “this thing” that needs to be handled so carefully.

Yet, the plank is so big that you wouldn’t easily be able to get where you needed to be.  No matter how you tried to handle it, you’d probably trip over things on the way there or get caught on furniture and in doorways.  You would have to shift some things around and even handle yourself differently, in order to navigate your path.

If you have kids or pets, forget that bathroom altogether, because they would need to be in the bathroom with you. It would be over capacity by the time you got in there! So in disgust, you’d try to go outside instead, where there is more light and more room to actually remove a plank. By this time, you’re probably so frustrated that you really don’t care who sees you with this problem; you have to get rid of it!

You’re finally outside where you have enough room only to discover that there is another issue. Every time you try to pull this thing out, the far end just keeps getting caught in the dirt.  Your arms are not long enough to hold the opposite end up and you don’t have enough upper body strength to hold up and pull out this thing yourself. You would try it first, just to be sure. You might even wrestle with it for a while. Eventually, you’d realize that you need help.

Maybe neighbors or friends come to your aide. Some of the help might make the problem worse but enough of the right hands in the right spot would be able to free you from this situation in no time.  Even if you just backed up to get away from the problem, you’d probably still need someone to make sure that you didn’t get into a another type of trouble.

Once it was free, I could see how everyone would want to look you and the plank over and then celebrate in its removal.  No matter who helped you and how close you were, you’d always be bonded in a way by that experience.

As corny as it is, what I love about this image are the little things that I gleaned from it by visualizing the whole scenario.

Application

1. First, the saw dust and the plank are the same material, wood. Not just both a type of sin, offense or problem. They are the same. 

2. Ever notice how the thing that annoys you most about someone, turns out to be something that you’re guilty of too. Sigh…

3. Our natural instinct is to run to the mirror when something is wrong with our appearance to see how to fix it.  James 1:23-25 is a verse that references a mirror.  We should check his image to see what we need to get rid of or add in, in order to get our image right.

4. It’s impossible to deal with something (life altering) in a confined space. You will trip, get stuck, hurt yourself and others.  The only way to deal with it is by getting it out in the open.

5. Of course the Son’s light is always brightest!

6. You might know exactly what the solution is but you’re not always strong enough to remove or change the situation on your own.

7. Sometimes, problems can cause us to have blind spots. It’s good to have others that can help you see the full situation or to offer a view from another angle. You also need others to help support you where you are weak.  Sometimes, too many hands in the situation, can cause additional harm but even so, it’s still usually the fastest way to freedom.

8. Certainly when a group works together it brings unity, even if it’s only two people. How much stronger is the unity that is formed during the resolution than it is just in the celebration of victory?

9. Since we are all made to help each other, I wonder if by trying to hold things in, we also deprive the body of our relationships from developing proper trust, respect, appreciation and even the satisfaction of helping each other.

10. Sometimes our greatest ministry is not what we put into words but rather in what we allow others to witness in our own lives. -In showing others the way to victory! HOW we got there!  -Not in a manner that glorifies the problem but to reveal what God is doing in your own life.

11. Could you simply imagine how much lighter you would feel without trying to support the weight of a plank? 

12. Just like this picture, our planks are the only thing that separate us from freedom.

13. If you're helping someone else with their plank, you need to be just as careful with your end (as if it were your own plank) so that you don't further injure the other person.

Prayer

Father God, Thank you for the ability to see a new perspective by using the gift of an imagination. All things in your creation are mighty when used in your power. What a unique design you have given the body to not only help others but to receive help when needed. The unison and harmony that is created and balanced by the give and then the take. Please still our minds so that we can see, not only where we can give more, but where we should also allow others in; If not to develop our own appreciation of their gifts, then to witness to those, who do not yet know where to turn.  Your peace is amazing! Your grace is transforming. Your love endures forever!

Small Things | Devotion

At around the age of two or three, each child started giving me rocks and other small things that they would find, usually walking in our own yard. At first, I would “ooh” and “ahh” and set the item down on a shelf. After a few days, I would toss it back into the yard or trash when the kids weren't looking.

Then one day, I heard or read that toddlers and small children will give adults small things to build trust. The message even mentioned rocks. If children find that they can trust you with their gifts, then they will increase what they give and/or trust you with as they get older. Obviously, I was convicted and I began to see those gifts as the treasures that they were. So, I started saving them.

While, I haven’t been able to save them all, it’s not unusual to find a bowl in any room of my house with a rock, dead flower, or stick, etc. The bowl in this picture lives in my bathroom. You might not be able to tell from the picture or even in person but the contents of this bowl, is not just “ordinary rocks”. 

There are shells and ore from the vacations on the beach. A plastic “DIAMOND” that Sophie couldn't believe that she had found. A real opal (as it would be found in nature). It was a gift from a cousin but it is also Ethan’s birthstone. A piece of coal from my second father’s home; which also happens to be the raw form of Jackson’s birthstone. (I am seeking a blue sapphire rock for Sophie’s birthstone, if you have an extra to spare.)

Either way, it holds a variety of small things that either mean something to me or meant something to someone else. They are so much more than dirty old rocks in a bowl. Each one of them has a story. This bowl has truly become something that I treasure; if not for what they are physically, then for how they touch me emotionally or spiritually.

It reminds me of the verse Luke 16:10-12. ¹⁰ “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. ¹¹ And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? ¹² And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?

As I reflect on the verse and those rocks, I wonder what other small things in my life might appear to be nothing on the surface, but upon closer look, would I find that they had more significance? I’ve included some questions below. May they provoke your own thoughts to search your heart and habits. If one of them touches you, pray about it and dig deeper.

Application Questions

What distractions or rocks might I remove from my life, only to discover that they either held a bigger significance or were blocking something even greater from entering my life?

Am I aware of all of the things and relationships that have been entrusted to me? What might I take for granted or not even notice?

What “mountains do I make” out of small things that should be forgotten? Which small things should I replace them with so that they can be remembered?

Am I willing to trust God with my small things or even give him something that I treasure?

Do I care about matters that are significant to others, even if they do not seem important to me?

Prayer

Father God, I pray that you touch each of our hearts with items that can be more or less beneficial to our lives. Give us the courage to consider how we might benefit from change, as well as the strength to make decisions based off of those convictions.  Your way is not just the "better" way, it's the only way that leads to freedom. Thank you for the gift of your spirit and your love.