Skip to main content

Pouring Out

I have come to realize that pouring out our lives as children of God is what the journey is all about.  There’s no end to when you’re called to pour it out, to give it away, to die to yourself, to take your life and distribute it to others by putting it in God's hands.  That is what it is about.  It is not something you do one day and then its over and you’re done.  Pouring out is an everyday life calling.  If I ever come to a place in my life where I realize I’m no longer pouring out my life, then I have got to ask myself some hard questions.  I have to do this, because it is not something I just grew out of...this passion to pour out.  My circumstances are not something I have just gotten used to.  Every day is new gift from the Lord, and the blessings He gives us within each day are to be multiplied to those around us.  So, there is not a quota of “amount of life out poured" at which point we get to stop living beyond our self.  Therefore, when there is no overflow from my life, when the passion has died, I have to look first at myself to see if I set my cross down somewhere.  To see if I took my eyes off the object of my affections.  To see if somewhere along the way I developed a preoccupation for the world and its shimmering distractions.   And then, I can take those results to God and ask for a renewed passion, a new energy for this act of pouring out, a new motivation towards those around me.  I go to Him in this moment, because it is He, afterall  that I should be pouring out from the overflow of my own soul.  And when  I do, I must come with the willingness to go wherever He may lead me to retrieve it.  It may just be locked away in a place where I would least expect it, and so I trust His guidance and I trust He is sufficient, and I carry my cross wherever He leads.

Matthew 16:24: "Then Jesus told the disciples, 'If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Romans 12:1 (MSG): "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bravery to Wait

" I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be courageous and let your heart be strong.   Wait for the Lord .” –Psalm 27:13-14 I hadn't noticed until now that brave and strong is part of waiting. Because running and explaining and indulging and figuring out is so much a part of our world. I forgot that wait is a verb, not a space-filler, not a time-waster. In the waiting, we are learning our hope.   In the waiting, we become His; we come alive. In the waiting, we build the pages upon which He will write the story. In the waiting, the story has already begun.   Right now, my waiting is the story.   How silly for me to think that brave and strong was only for empire-building and battle-fighting. I’ve been having strong moments and really weak ones.   Because even though I’ve set up my circumstances for rest and family and connection right now, wherever I go, I can still find the dr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Twenty Ways to Love a Foster Family Well

The tears slid down my cheek as I typed out the email just a few short weeks ago that would officially close our home and end our season as foster parents.  We may have another season before we hit the nursing home, but after a lot of prayer and confirmation....we know this season right now? It is about the family God has formed inside our home.  We will be focusing on meeting the needs of each of the amazing forever children we have the privilege of parenting. We will also do all we can to provide intentional support to those fostering around us.  ( Hint: If you are local and maybe "not having enough support and/or respite" has kept you from fostering, holla at ya girl! ) I wanted to mark this moment in some way, which is why I am here.  I want to share with YOU all of the amazing ways people - our family, our friends, our community, our church, our village...so many of you - made this season possible for us. I want to highlight all the ways God showed up for us in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Destination

Michael and I are very excited to share that we have accepted a job together as Family Teachers at Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Home and Family Services in Monticello, Arkansas!  You can visit Vera Lloyd's website here and get a tiny glimpse of the awesome ministry that exists on its campus.  We were able to visit the campus last Thursday and Friday and have been spending time in prayer individually and as a couple until last night when we came to the place where we both knew this truly is where God has been leading us the whole time.  There are so many questions to answer, so I thought I would format this post in a question/answer format.  Feel free to leave any unanswered questions as a comment!  And as always, take or leave the details! Q: Where is Monticello and how big is the town? A: Monticello is 1.5 hours South of Little Rock and 1.5 hours North of Louisiana.  It is a small college town (University of Arkansas @Monticello) of about 10,000 people situ...
3 comments
Read more