What To Do Today...

"And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me]."
Mark 8:34amplified

Heaven's Bank Tellers

About a year ago, I was driving to the grocery store thinking, not praying, about a particular person. As my husband would say, they had more talent in their pinky finger than we did combined. Outwardly beautiful and inwardly more so because of Jesus, I wondered would God would do with them in the coming days.

Instantly, the Lord switched the channel of my thoughts and a brief scenario played in my head. I was standing next to Him when He handed me a very large bag stuffed with unknown contents. He told me to go down the road a bit, stand on a small platform, and when a crowd gathered around, open the bag and give without restraint the contents to everyone that came. As I stood on this small platform, people came of all ages and types. Some weak, some sick, some young, some not-so-young, some very depressed and discouraged, while others seemed to be well-groomed, successful and happy. I then reached into the bag and pulled out fistfuls of $100s and $1,000 bills and began to give them to the people. I was as surprised as they were, but I met their words of gratitude with "The Lord gave me this for you." As I patted my pockets, I realized I was a pauper myself...I didn't even have a penny.

The vision disappeared as I was pulling into the parking lot. In my thoughts I thanked the Lord and said "Wow. I will share that with _________ so they will remember with all the talent you've given them, they truly only have what came from Your hand."

But the Lord showed me that this is for every one of us. His Word says that we have nothing unless we have first received it (Jn.3:27). It says that without Him, we can DO nothing (Jn.15:5). Romans 7:18 says "I know that in me dwells no good thing."

Yet...2 Cor.4:7 "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." And finally in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

So don't be surprised when God puts you in a place where spiritually needy people are. Where they may be sick in their sin, discouraged about the world, depressed in darkness or swimming in the world's temporary counterfeit pleasures. If you have Jesus, you have "all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" that's ever existed. You have heaven's wealth and the fulfillment of every longing soul-Jesus. Just open up and dispense whatever God has given you to share and remember...we don't have a penny's worth of eternity to give in ourselves.

Mark 8:6 "So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude."

Parents Have Eyes but a Child Knows

I can't remember how many years of my childhood I believed the saying that "Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads." Since the percentage of getting caught when I did something wrong was nearly perfect, I didn't need to see them to believe it. I may have fallen for that much longer than my belief in Santa Claus.

Yet, never once was I told...warned...that "children are born with parent sensors." These hidden, internal alarm systems that know exactly when to go off and cause a child to act, react or refuse to act at the worst possible moments. Let me give you proof.

As an infant, this internal alarm will wake the baby up and cause them to cry EXACTLY at the moment your sleep-deprived brain shuts off and you begin to dream. Though they can't utter a word, just try and lift a video recorder and watch the smile disappear and adorable behavior a mere memory. Just when you're heading out the door to go to church, breathless while trying to make it on time (for once), their little sensors let them know they have a new outfit on that has yet to be "baptized" with their breakfast. See? Psalm 139 says God knows our "down sittings and uprisings." So do they.

As a child grows, this "parental sensor" becomes even more astounding in its inopportune precision. Try and tiptoe to the bathroom for a 2 minute pit stop while your child is deeply enthralled in a video. That sensor will alert your Johnny (no pun intended) so that the moment you take your seat, there will either be a knock on the door or a little munchkin in front of you saying, "whatcha' doin' Mama?"

Don't ever try putting hair coloring on without another adult in the home. Their sensors must react to the chemicals because some kind of problem invariably will ensue to make you miss your rinse time. I narrowly escaped looking like the poster girl for a bad radiation experiment.

Yes...the following parental activities are guaranteed to trigger those internal alarms and cause some kind of cataclysmic event:

•  Talking on the phone

• Talking to your spouse

• Talking to anyone other than them

• Starting dinner

• Standing in a checkout line

• Trying to read...anything

• Getting out of the house for an appointment

• Stepping into the shower or tub

• Needing to concentrate

• Dressing them in a new article of clothing or something WHITE

• Saying things like "Be careful" or "Don't touch that." 

The list is actually infinite. I'm not bitter. I just felt the need to notify others who were never warned about these supernatural gifts given to....parents? It must be one of the top ten instruments in God's toolbox to bring out the fullness of James 1:4 "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Patience. 

18 years will seem like 18 seconds in hindsight. I'll regret the lump on my forehead from hitting it into the wall but I'll never regret all of the gifts tucked inside this child to teach me how to be more like Jesus.

Psalm 127:3a "Behold, children are a gift of the LORD..."