Recently I was sitting outside on a bench of a shopping area waiting on my family. It was relatively quiet until all of the sudden a car alarm began to blare, blast, and blow. This alarm was different than others I have heard. It didn’t just go, “HONK, HONK, HONK!” The alarm gave several different kinds of honks with the horn, then it would change and do something altogether different. In between the types of honking sounds it would give four gentle taps with the horn. I half expected a marching band to come parading out of the back seat!
I got up soon after it began to look at the car from the sidewalk, but didn’t see any action around the car that was carrying on so. I expected I’d see a whole band of gangsters prying the doors and windows open with all the racket the car was…
So you served at your church yesterday? How did you do it? I’m not asking at what skill level you played the piano, or taught the children’s church lesson – I mean, how was your attitude and your mindset about your service?
Paul tells us in I Corinthians 4:2 that the only requirement is FAITHFULNESS. That rules out the need to be perfect, flawless, captivating or awesome. Those are characteristics of our God – not ourselves.
What are we to do? Just be faithful.
Show up
Be there on time
Be prepared
Be enthusiastic
Faithfulness also rules out being
Hesitant
Half-hearted
Obligatory
Cynical
When we realize how much we have been given from our Savior, we realize that we have so much to give in return. It’s our blessing to GET to serve God in any small way – just out of the gratitude of our hearts. If you serve, yet…
no one sees when you miss hearing the preaching because you’re in the nursery again, cradling a crying baby so his mommy can hear the Gospel.
You try to convey to the junior age class that God wants them to stand firm like Daniel in this next school year and you wonder if they heard a word you spoke.
you sat alone in the service again becuase your husband was serving on security in the church parking lot on this 90+ degree day.
no one else saw all the work you did to you prepared a meal for any visitors that might come to church so you could invite them to join your family afterwards.
you practiced that offeratory 100 times, and still messed up on that hard part in the middle, but you had to play it because of how that song ministered to your heart during the week.
Be comforted that God sees and knows of your faithfulness – the one characteristic that he requires of us when we serve Him. He will reward you for it, and it will be worth any small sacrifice we may have made!
Have you ever driven past a beautiful place, like the Biltmore mansion, but not been inside? You don’t really know what it looks like because of that. I’m bringing you along with us on Sabbatical so you can see for yourself what it looks like.
We’ve not hurried anything in the mornings. Getting up without an alarm is a treat. Time in the Word and prayer is lingered over like a gourmet meal. It’s the richest time of the day.
Each day we’ve ventured out a little, but stayed pretty close to home. Here was one beautiful adventure:
We drove up to Roan Mt. near us to purchase fresh SC peaches and to go to a favorite lake for the afternoon. We read, talked, and rested.This is the shelter at the lake. Everywhere you turn there is beauty. The quiet at the lake was as welcomed as the beauty. It was the perfect place to really listen to the Lord’s voice.
I “just happened” to pick up a book by Elizabeth George – Quiet Confidence for a Woman’s Heart on the clearance table a week ago. The chapter I read at the lake just happened to be on Psalm 23:2 – He leads me beside the still waters. Where was I reading it? At this beautiful lake. How good is my God?
This book has been a sweet refreshment as she takes us into the life of the Shepherd and His sheep through the means of Psalm 23.
Time to read. Slow down. Pray. Journal. Rest. Talk. All inside the Sabbatical.
Hi Friends! I am writing a little post to say we’re having a great first week while doing this thing they call resting. It’s a foreign word to most ministry families. Days are typically long and full, weekends longer and even fuller, but the joy runs higher than them all. However, there comes a time when everyone (and I mean everyone – even the folks in the pews) need to stop and rest.
We feel so very loved by our church that they would notice our fatigue and desire to do something to refresh us, something that is so unknown to our circles, like sabbaticals are. Have you wondered what we’re doing? What a sabbatical looks like close up? Let me give you a peek.
My sister sent a text yesterday that said,
Praying that this sabbatical will be a refreshing and restful time for you!
I answered,
It’s been a huge blessing already!
Then her reply –
That’s saying something for only 2 days!
I thought much about that last statement. Was I jumping the gun? No. When you are under pressure and the pressure is released, you notice it immediately. Let me illustrate –
On Monday, the first day of Sabbatical, I went to a previously scheduled dentist appointment (horrible timing, right?!). It was just for a cleaning, so it wasn’t too bad. However, when the hygienist got to the bottom front teeth where I typically have a tough time keeping free from plaque build-up, she began her chiseling cleaning. Pressure! I definitely noticed when she completed her task and stopped the pressure on my teeth! So, too, with our responsibilities lifted for these 31 days, the pressure is released, and it is a huge blessing!
Here are a some pictures of how we’ve spent our days:
Home is our favorite place to rest – specifically on the back porch. It’s quiet, peaceful, beautiful and secluded.
Uninterrupted Quiet time has been a blessing – reading Scripture and praying has been a rich. My kitty, Liza just happens to love to pray with me. When she hears me (I pray out loud), she comes and stays near.
There are specific words that the Lord has given each day this week. Not prophetic kinds of words, but labels. The first was:
Rest.
The second was
Still waters.
I’m marking these words in a journal, careful to seek God’s face and hear His heart for these days inside the Sabbatical.
This post will be continued tomorrow. I’ll have pictures of a couple places we’ve been. I hope you’ll check back in!
When I was raising my girls, I was always seeking ways to bring the Scripture into their daily lives. I wanted them to see for themselves how applicational the Word of God is to everything we experience. One tool that I used to accomplish that was kind of a “cheat sheet” of Bible verses. The verses touched on sins that needed to be addressed when they happened – disobedience, lying, rebellion, etc. I also tried to look for examples in the Bible to help the girls understand how to handle problems.
Recently, I was reading a passage in Numbers 12 that I wished I had shared when the girls were young and at each other’s throats fussing. This is when Miriam and Aaron spoke out against their brother, Moses. They basically snubbed their noses at the fact that he was the one in charge and they were not! It never tells us that Moses raked them…
Recently I was sitting outside on a bench of a shopping area waiting on my family. It was relatively quiet until all of the sudden a car alarm began to blare, blast, and blow. This alarm was different than others I have heard. It didn’t just go, “HONK, HONK, HONK!” The alarm gave several different kinds of honks with the horn, then it would change and do something altogether different. In between the types of honking sounds it would give four gentle taps with the horn. I half expected a marching band to come parading out of the back seat! 
RefreshHer 