God is a God of Both the Small Things and the Big Things
Hi Everyone,
So this is my first (very overdue) blog post!
Firstly, I’m so grateful to the Lord for how He has prepared me in advance for the Truth in Song journey and (as He promises to) has given me grace in my time of need. After a very busy and sometimes challenging 2017 I have had to face the hurdle of some health issues this year which slowed me down somewhat. Thankfully nothing too serious but I did need to take a step back and regroup. Along the way there have been many important lessons from the Lord and I thought I’d share a few with you:
To work for Him, we must first walk with and worship Him – an obvious one to many believers I know, but like Martha (and me!) we can get so caught up in the doing, that we can overlook the One for whom we are doing it! It’s good sometimes to take a step back and refocus on what’s truly important – our relationship with the Lord!
Pray without ceasing
We can become so bogged down and weary from the challenges we face in life’s journey (and if we are doing the Lord’s work we are guaranteed to face opposition) that we neglect to pray as we should. It’s so wonderful to remember that we can pray anytime and anywhere – driving to fetch kids from school, taking the dogs for a walk, waiting in a queue etc. That’s not to say we shouldn’t faithfully guard the time set aside each day for more structured prayer and bible study though – something I’ve been working on!
God is a God of both the small things and the big things
This is a biggie for me! In our number crunching world this can so often spill over into our thinking, especially when we hear things like “If God is in it will be a big thing” or “Wow look how many followers this guy has, God must be in it” – that may (or may not) be the case but God is also in the small things – I’ve learned that He is primarily concerned with the heart behind things (why we do them) and not the outcome – we need to trust that the results are firmly in His hands and that He will ultimately work all things out for our good and for His glory.
Perseverance
I for one am in constant need of “picking up and dusting off” and the Lord has been super patient with me in my weary, sulky Jonah moments. I am in the middle of reading the biography of George Mueller (whom the Lord gave a huge heart for orphans and a wonderful ministry to many homeless little ones in England) – this man really prayed!! He depended on the Lord step by step and was often without funds to pay for the needs of the many children in His care (this is where the weary, sulky mind-set could have crept in), yet He trusted in God’s goodness and returned time and time again to the foot of the cross to ask for even the smallest of things and our wonderful attention-to-detail God faithfully answered, sometimes leaving the deliverance right down to the wire, as He developed Muller’s perseverance and trust. How easily we give up in our fast paced, disposable modern day society!
Do the next right thing
My pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church mentioned this as part of a recent sermon and it really struck a chord with me – when we’re not sure of the road ahead (none of us are actually, apart from the hope of heaven!) then…..just “do the next right thing”, one step at a time – wise advice I’d say!
Anyway that’s all for now but look out for some exciting new material on the Truth in Song website in the months ahead – we are getting rolling again, God willing, and can’t wait to share more truths from God’s precious Word with you in song!
Yours in Christ,
Amber