Strength will rise....

I want to change the world. I really do. I do not find any use in "playing small" or keeping my dreams "realistic". God uses His people to do BIG things and the more time I spend in His word, the more I observe His uncanny choices. He uses the willing, meek, and weak to achieve His purposes. People like David, Josiah, Esther, and Rahab would not have been voted "Most Likely to Achieve" in their High School yearbooks. And yet they were tools the Lord used to change hearts, save lives, and move entire people groups to their knees. He used them because they walked rightously. He looks at our hearts, not out skills. Praise Him!

But let us not forget that He uses the unwilling too. Moses and Jonah had no desire to "go". So when they would not humble themselves towards the Lord, He did it for them. He used them to teach us that He will use who He chooses. His will is going to be done either way....but I would rather be a willing heart : ).

So here I am, as willing as I can possibly be. I don't care where, how, or when I go, just as long as I go. Be it inner-city missions, time in Kenya, teaching English in the Czech, ministering to my husband and children, or serving in the church...I am willing. But what do I do when I am not sure what to do? How do I wait well? I tend to think I am young, able, and shapable. He could do so much with me. He could use me right now to impact the world!

Noah changed the world. Well, the Lord used him to save mankind (sort of a big deal). But I was reminded last night that God did not use Noah to do that until he was 500 years old! So what did Noah do for the first 500 years of his life? He walked with the Lord and lived righteously.

Again, he walked with the Lord and lived rightously.

So I will walk with the Lord and live rightously wherever He has me and whether I feel like I am in a "waiting" period or not.

"Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.
We will wait upon the Lord.
We will wait upon the Lord."

Brave

We woke up that morning to find that the forest outside had been delicately sprinkled with fresh powder. The snow we long awaited had finally arrived. The boys declared it a "day of the slopes", well one slope to be exact, and we headed up to the Hume Lake snowboard run. Everyone muttered on and on about how the conditions were "perfect" and all had high expectations for the day. I was not so thrilled. If I hadn't snowed, I would not have had to face my fears. Indeed, I was terrified of snowboarding.

I am not certain if it was the unknown, the cold, or the speed; but I had avoided the skill for years. I always had some excuse for why I couldn't make the trips to Mammoth or Moutain High. Now, much to my dismay, we were all present at Winter Camp and I had no escape. We stood at the bottom on the run and I watched as fast-flying blurs passed before my eyes. (I am being dramatic of course.) I was petrified.

"Come on Anna, it's a perfect day to learn." Trevor said with much insight. He could see the lack of enthusiasm that I had tried to hard to mask. Had I not been so infatuated with him that it made it hard to breath...I might have protested. But something wreckless in me said "GO!".

"Okay." I managed to stammer back as we headed up the hill.

We climbed about half way up and stopped. Trevor said this would be a good place to learn and that if I just listened to him I would have it in "no time". By now I had already imagined a head on collison with one of the speed deamons that raced before me, a fast ride to the infimrary, and devistated parents who would shortly find out about the death of their oldest daughter. I suddenly realized that impressing and spending time with Trevor was not worth my imminent death and started to walk back down the moutnain.

"Anna, you can do this. Get back up here, I am waiting for you."

Something in his voice made me feel as though he actually desired my company and that he already deemed me to be victorious. It was as if there was no doubt at all that I was perfectly capable of conquering this mountain (this bunny slope, to be exact). And he was waiting for me! Something in Trevor that day made me want to be brave.

Romans 8:11 "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."

So, why am I still frozen by fear? The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is in me! And He actually does desire me. He has been waiting for me. He is already victorious. He does not only conquer mountains, He moves them!

I ought to be so driven by my passion for the Lord that I am willing to ride, even plummet down any slope He desires. I ought to feel confident and comforted knowing that the God of the Universe, who does not change or fail, is alive and at work in me. I ought to call in His power and trust Him with my entire being. I ought to be BRAVE.

"So long status quoe,
I think I just let go.
You make me want to be BRAVE.
The way it always was,
Is no linger good enough.
You make me want to be BRAVE."
-Nichole Nordeman

4 Year Old Wisdom

I was babysitting. Alisa was sitting on a barstool while I did the dishes. I sing all the time, really I don't stop. I was quietly singing a line from a song my dear friend Andrew Sartain wrote "Walk with me, together we'll consume the sky...who am I?"

"It shouldn't be that," Alisa commented casually.
"What shouldn't be what?" I asked.
"It shouldn't be walk with me, that's dumb."

I paused. She is only four but I was quite certain she knew something profound about life that I didn't.
"Well, what should the song say Alisa?"
"It should say love with me, that's better."

Love is a movement, it's a revolution. It changes, it endures, it empowers, and it is absolutely the answer. Alisa does not know the entirety of the lyrics in Andrew's song. She has no idea the implications he was trying to encourage and great meaning he intended. But she does know LOVE and that there is no greater song.