Say YES!

Lately, I've been incubating different ideas about destiny and obedience.  I find myself in the midst of a life transition, a time between seasons.  I am coming from a deliciously rich and beautiful summer season, chuck full of sweet memories and precious times, with a peculiar absence of stress and tension.  I stand on the verge of a season of...what, I don't know.  Maybe less sunshine.  Maybe more chilling winds.  Maybe the trees will lose the luscious leaves and go dormant for a while.  Maybe snows will fall and confine me to my house.

As I first eyeballed these possible changes, I would get a fearful dread in my stomach.  Though outwardly agreeing with the changes, inside, like a spoiled child, I felt like my heart was stamping a foot, pouting, and whining through gritted teeth, "I don't WANNA!"  After a couple weeks of this charade, I decided to have it out with God over this particular issue.  I articulated my true feelings and fears (this was more for my benefit, because He already knew everything).  Having emptied my "Comments, Complaints, & Suggestions" box, I got up to leave.  But God wasn't satisfied with only letting me vent.  His aim is not to help us feel better, but to give us what is missing in our experience of Him.

His response to my whining?  He reminded me of a situation with my daughter just that morning...I was trying to give Hannah a bath.  Hannah did not want a bath.  Hannah cried and fussed and whined and made the whole process much longer and more difficult than it had to be.  In the midst of the power struggle, I said to her, "Hannah, I am your mother.  I will not ask you to do something that is bad for you.  Trust me.  I'm not asking you to like it, but I am asking you to obey.  Just say, 'yes'."  As this scene came back to my mind, I felt Holy Spirit whisper lovingly into my heart, "Sarah, I am your Father.  I will not ask you to do anything that will harm you.  Trust Me!  I am asking you to obey.  Just say, 'yes'!"  I melted into Daddy's great heart of love and patience for me.  What a perfect Father He is!  In that moment, His grace washed over me and abolished all my fears.

He then reminded me of a special Scripture He had given me to pray a couple months before:  Proverbs 31:21 "She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet."  I had prayed it every day faithfully, but hadn't grasped the application for my life.  Finally, that verse made perfect sense to me...I do not have to fear the changing of seasons, or even the harshest of seasons, because I and all my family are covered in the scarlet blood of Jesus!  In the middle of the coldness and seeming barrenness of a winter season, there is a bright and warm beauty!  Though the winter is vastly different from summer, it is a time of grand celebrations and intimate closeness, filled with it's own memories and joys. I received this verse in Proverbs as a promise from God, with Him I will face the changing seasons of life with joy and peace.

Shortly after this, I heard the album "Destiny" by Beckah Shae.  As I listened, I felt almost like God had given her those songs specifically for me.  Music is one of my favorite ways to connect with my feelings about God and life, and it is also one of the biggest ways God encourages me.  The words to one particular song fit so perfectly with what I was going through.  I'd like to share it with you....

For Such A Time As This
Beckah Shae
I'm just an ordinary person with so much resistance and so many hindrances
I'm just a common average woman with an ugly past, that keeps tryin to hold me back
Limitations all surround me and this world thinks that it's drowning in hopelessness
Then I hear you call my name out loud and I say yes!
Just a moment for a lifetime, For such a time as this, I say yes!
I've been chosen to arise, For such a time as this, and I say yes!
Alive awake alert, I know I don't deserve why I'm in this position
But I'm here ready to serve
Willing to lose it all, I'm answering Your call
Oh heart and soul please listen for the mandate must be heard
Your grace and favor crown me and I need Your strength around me
Cause I still fear how hard it might be
And what's worth living for, if nothing is worth dying for?
I'm gonna make a stand, I'm gonna make an echo
I'm gonna make some history, with His story!
Writing the pages of today to read about tomorrow's change
Cause I know I was made, for such a time as this


So, to anyone out there struggling to do what God has asked of you...don't be afraid of the changing seasons, there is a promise from God that the snows of life will not harm you!  He is a perfect Father who has plans to prosper you.  Destiny is no farther away than a YES!

Bliss to you!
Sarah

Living Rainbow

I sit bathed in sunshine, but all around me is the dark, moody clouds of the passing storm.  I suddenly become aware that this is the perfect condition for a rainbow….perishing rain, golden evening sun, thick clouds as a backdrop.  I look around expectantly, but soon realize that, look though I may, I cannot see one.  I know it is there, somewhere…it has to be.  Then it hits me: I am in the rainbow.  Somewhere, someone else is looking at this place where I am, and what they see is the breathtaking colors of that beautiful marriage of light and water…the visual representation of God’s faithfulness, a beacon of hope, a symbol of joy. 

That is the purpose of my life on this earth.  To be that contact point where God’s glory is reflected in my life into a clear picture of His faithfulness.  To be a sign that points to the only true Source of Joy, in stark contrast to the dull, depressing atmosphere surrounding.   To be a reminder that there is an end to every storm.   There is a God who is not only capable of keeping His promises, but also trustworthy to the highest degree, far beyond what we even know of.   

If you know the Son, then rest assured, whatever storm you are weathering, He intends it to be a message of hope and joy to the world around you.  He is the Light of the World and the Living Water…so in essence, He is shining on you, reflecting on Himself in you, and creating a picture of His faithfulness, that though you may not see it, is distinctly and strikingly visible to those elsewhere! 

What a beautiful, mysterious marriage this is! 

Bliss to you!
Sarah

P.S. The picture above was taken by Kelly Miller elsewhere in the city as I wrote this very post!  :)