When Love Pours Out

I find when we desire to go deeper with God He stretches us and takes us there but often it requires more sacrifice from our fleshly ways.  Think of it even when you're training to accomplish something as a marathon or being an Olympic athlete.  You keep honing your skills, pushing your endurance in pursuit of winning.  No different with God other than His stretching and honing of our hearts is often in strange ways.  Ways that the world often can't understand. 

For me this week the stretching came in the ask to do a 10 year old girl's funeral.  I have done a few young people's funerals now... never easy, BUT God can use them in powerful ways if we go with a sincere love and empathy as I believe Christ would.  But this one, was a healthy, vibrant, young lady that came home from a basketball tournament, with a sore throat that Sunday.  Then passed away Friday morning.  Wow....

I knew God was calling me to extend myself sacrificially and fully to this family during this tragedy.  But I knew the sacrifice when initially asked and my flesh wanted to resist.  For when I say yes to this, .I literally take it on as if it were my own.  This allows me a deeper love, understanding and a complete dependence on God for His words of hope and love to an unchurched family that can understandably only ask "Why?" 

So I spent countless hours, with the family, friends, school, and then taking it all back to my Lord saying, "What do YOU want me to say?" 

God moved in a tremendous way as the room over flowed with hundreds and hundreds of people.  The prayer and support of our church family as we ALL moved together to help and love on this family was powerful.  As I looked around the room and saw my teammates serving and loving I felt so proud of representing out God of love even in this horrific experience. 

None of us, not you or I have ANY guarantee for tomorrow.  Seriously.  This was smack in our face with the remaining body of this 10 year old princess.  James 4: 14 reminds us of this, "Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." 

Are we living full out today?  Truly being obedient to His voice in the small things?  Are we extending love in a powerful way?  Do I tell my husband and children that I love them enough with word and action?

It doesn't even have to be big things, but just being obedient.  When I came home from the funeral I find my own heart so tender, now free to allow my own tears to fall before the Lord.  And as I passed a neighbor I didn't really know I saw him struggling with all the snow at the end of the driveway, an older man that was struggling and later saw him give up and drive away.  I knew God was convicting me to grab my shovel and go down and clear it for him even though he was gone and wouldn't know it was me.  It wasn't about that.  It was about loving my God and displaying His affection to everyone not needing anything in return.  It didn't stop there as my husband and I finally had a date night given him being away for a while we savored this time.  We realized at the restaurant that the live entertainment was someone we knew a bit but had recently struggled so much as his wife had left him for another man.  This young artist loves God and was hurting and we knew we could relate.  And so Roger prayed there that the Lord would bring him over and sure enough and so we invited him to share our date with us.  It was of God for us to encourage his saddened heart.  And in that moment I knew the Lord wanted me to invite him to our Christmas.  So I did.  And he may just be at our place this Christmas.  Was I being obedient... yes.  It's all about being faithful with all that He puts around us.  See it's HIS heart above all that I desire to please.  I feel such love and joy and peace in my own heart when I follow His leading in this.

My life is His... I desire the world to know that I love the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ above all.

May my actions prove my love,

Carrie