God has been doing these crazy things in my life lately. And maybe He's always been doing them and I've just now gotten my head out of the sand. Now that I think of it I've have been like an ostrich for much of my life. But I digress....
I've been using Dennis Kinlaw's This Day with the Master Devotional (you can look that up here). This devotional has sat on my shelf for years. I've picked it up here and there trying to get into the habit of daily devos, but the habit never stuck. It never stuck until this past month. I've tried to find times in the morning to sit and spend time with God, but I'd either forget or get to busy and I shoved this time aside. But like I said this past month I've found so much growth in my devotion time that I'm hooked. Each morning while I'm blow drying my hair I read my devos. I sit on the floor of my bedroom with my book and Bible on my iPhone and read that days passage. Now this may not sound like quality time with God but for it has been quite fruitful. I can't hear anything outside of the noise of blow dryer so all of my focus is on the scripture that I'm reading. No one bothers me, no one interrupts me; it has been perfect.
So my reason for writing today stems from two major parts of church today and both relating back to my morning reading. The first is the verse of the day, Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Dr. Ron Smith (Pastor Doug's brother) preached this morning and kept coming back to this verse. How good is it that we have a God that doesn't change. He made the statement that the only change God ever made was coming in human form as Jesus, but God was still God.
Here's the mind blower for me... in This Day with the Master the scripture came from Luke 18:18-25. This is the story of the rich ruler. God tells him, he is to give away his possessions to the poor and follow Him. The ruler is unable to do this and is sad. Jesus then tells him, "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." That's the story. The reading that went along with this was about a man who was in a meeting that first gave up his watch when the offering plate passed by. The second time the plate came to him, he placed his wife's engagement ring in the plate. The third offering he placed his entire pay check in the plate. Finally, when the preacher called anyone who wanted to give their life to Christ in full, the man stood, and knowing that with or without the man was going to do God's calling the man's wife stood beside him.
I say all this to set up what has been going on in my heart. About a month ago I was reaching for money in a drawer. It wasn't much, but in a voice that was audible to me I heard "give me your money". I didn't need to look around. I knew at that very moment God was calling me to place my finances in His hands. But for a couple of days I ignored the call. However in my head I heard that phrase playing over and over again, "give me your money." So that Sunday I did what I haven't done in ages, I placed my proper tithe in the plate. I was always a I'll just put a $20 bill and that will be good enough. (please know that I'm not saying this to get a pat on the back) Suddenly I felt a true burden to be faithful in this area of my life.
Since then I've been more aware than ever of God's still small voice and the mighty power that He has. This morning in church the Homans' spoke about Compassion International. I've tried to support children in the past but I was never really prepared financially. Sometimes I was just too selfish to put the money aside. This morning I felt that call again, "Heather, trust Me." During second service I trusted God and chose a little boy named Josue from El Salvador to sponsor. I pray that this time I will be able to support him. I pray that God will remind me to care for this boy. I ask that you pray for me as God is doing an amazing work on my heart.
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