Wednesday, September 25, 2013
You Do Your Part, God Will Do His
Speaking of miracles, you must listen to this sermon. It's only 13 minutes and it's awesome. God does not delay in His miracles! It's from The Brooklyn Tabernacle and given by Tim Dilena. Thank you Caroline for sending me this sermon and for introducing me to Pastor Tim!
Also, if you are going through infertility, pregnancy loss or just want to read an inspiring blog, please go to http://in-due-time.com. Caroline leads the infertility group that I'm in (now called Mom's In The Making). She has a passion for encouraging others that are going through this journey and teaching us to speak LIFE over our bodies using God's truths. She also has links to more amazing sermons and great weekly memory verses.
Monday, September 23, 2013
A Miracle
I'm learning a lot about miracles. Not only how they happened in the bible days, but how they continue to happen everyday - we just don't always recognize them. I was at the Women of Faith Conference last weekend with my mom (it was awesome!) and one of the speakers, Christine Caine, spoke about the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Yes, we've all heard this story hundreds of times, but I seemed to understand it in a whole new way this time. The passage is from Mark 6:30-44.
Jesus asked the disciples to feed the crowd that had been listening to his teachings. They immediately exclaimed that it was an impossible task - it would take 8 months of wages! So Jesus tells them to gather any food they could find among the 5,000 men that were in the crowd. All they could find was 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Well that's not enough! Isn't that what our reaction would be? I love how Christine said it by calling it our "not enough". Then she asked the question, "What do we usually do with our not enough? Curse it, but ask God to bless it." Wow, that cut me to the core. That is exactly what I do with my "not enough". It's not enough and that's how I treat it. Jesus took the not enough food and did what? Gave THANKS for it! Certainly would not have been my first choice of words. He gave thanks for what little he had and then here is the most important part: he broke the bread. Normally, I would have just read right over that verse, but Christine pointed out that the miracle didn't come UNTIL the bread was broken. Jesus didn't have to do this, he could have just snapped his fingers and made bread come from nothing. But He wanted to show that even our not enough is more than enough for Him. He can take our broken and not enough pieces and give us beautiful miracles.
Brokenness. Maybe we too have to be broken before our eyes are open to seeing a miracle take place. Christine stated that in a world where we believe we can do everything ourselves, God says "I'm going to wait until you absolutely know you couldn't have done this on your own". And that may require brokenness.
Brokenness sets the stage for a miracle. I learned that first hand as I have recently been blessed by a miracle. I know that had I not been where I was, I wouldn't have absolutely known that this came from God and ONLY from God. It's a miracle that I'll get to share with my family for years to come.
Jesus asked the disciples to feed the crowd that had been listening to his teachings. They immediately exclaimed that it was an impossible task - it would take 8 months of wages! So Jesus tells them to gather any food they could find among the 5,000 men that were in the crowd. All they could find was 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Well that's not enough! Isn't that what our reaction would be? I love how Christine said it by calling it our "not enough". Then she asked the question, "What do we usually do with our not enough? Curse it, but ask God to bless it." Wow, that cut me to the core. That is exactly what I do with my "not enough". It's not enough and that's how I treat it. Jesus took the not enough food and did what? Gave THANKS for it! Certainly would not have been my first choice of words. He gave thanks for what little he had and then here is the most important part: he broke the bread. Normally, I would have just read right over that verse, but Christine pointed out that the miracle didn't come UNTIL the bread was broken. Jesus didn't have to do this, he could have just snapped his fingers and made bread come from nothing. But He wanted to show that even our not enough is more than enough for Him. He can take our broken and not enough pieces and give us beautiful miracles.
Brokenness. Maybe we too have to be broken before our eyes are open to seeing a miracle take place. Christine stated that in a world where we believe we can do everything ourselves, God says "I'm going to wait until you absolutely know you couldn't have done this on your own". And that may require brokenness.
Brokenness sets the stage for a miracle. I learned that first hand as I have recently been blessed by a miracle. I know that had I not been where I was, I wouldn't have absolutely known that this came from God and ONLY from God. It's a miracle that I'll get to share with my family for years to come.
A baby BOY is on the way!
More details in my next post!