Recklessly Abandon

Recklessly abandoned.  Interesting concept.  One that kept "popping up" around me for the past week.  We had a decision to make that we really needed to consult God about.  A big decision that we didn't want to make on our own.  The response to my question for God were these words.  Recklessly abandon.  The response God gave Michael to our big decision was "everything".  The concepts are the same.  To recklessly abandon means to give up everything.  Here are a few of the meanings I found in some searches I did.  (1) To do something without regard to the consequences (2) To completely surrender to natural impulses (3) To take the plunge despite the possible outcome (4) Just go for it without worrying about anything.

So, today, we gave everything with reckless abandon.  I have no idea what God will do with what we did, but we were obedient and that's really all that matters.  I was reading an article in Relevant Magazine which said, "In the end, only God can judge how much risk is too much. Heck, even driving to work is risky. So we need Him with us in everything we do. If we are endlessly working a day job to pay off the subprime mortgage, as a Christian, we should still bring Christ with us. “Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way“ (Colossians 3:17, The Message)."  It also stated this powerful point, "When we agree to follow the person and teachings of Jesus, we agree to surrender our plan for His, and by definition, that means we agree to a massive amount of personal risk. In our journey of faith and life, He can take us anywhere and allow anything to happen. He can take life and give life, no matter its duration. He extracts meaning from the briefest physical existence that we know."

I'm tired of living a "comfortable" life.  I want to live differently.  I want to live with reckless abandon for my God.  Giving Him everything with no thought of the consequence.  I want to recklessly love God!  With no thought of how I'm going to manage things now.  Letting it go.  I can't wait to tell you soon about what God has done!  Serving Christ is NEVER boring...that's for certain!

So in love!

I am so in love with my daughter.  I'm in love with my son, too, but this weekend, God gave me revelations about the love I have for my daughter.  Sweet Alex was chosen to be the Queen of Sheba in her school dinner theater.  She worked so hard at memorizing lines and learning a solo she had to sing.  She did so well, and I was SO proud of her!  Part of my job, as the Queen of Sheba's mother, was to do her make up and get her costume together to make her look like a queen!

 I spent a lot of time researching make up of the era to try and make her look like an Egyptian queen.  I spent time at Sally Beauty Supply talking with the "experts" there about doing her hair and trying to dye it black.  (We were unsuccessful at that because I put my foot down when it came to permanently dying her hair black!)  I spent time finding really cool things to make her absolutely beautiful, because she was the Queen of Sheba, by the way!  She had to be stunning! 

Everytime I would find something beautiful for her costume, I couldn't wait to show it to her and surprise her with what I'd bought.  I knew she's be ecstatic with the super cool gold necklace I found her at Gordmans.  (I loved it not only because it was cool, but because it was on clearance for $5.00!)  This whole process opened my eyes to the love my Father has for me, His little princess. 

I am royalty.  God only provides the very best for me.  He has in mind exactly how He wants me to look for this role I am to play in life.  And more importantly, He is so proud of me.  He is madly in love with me, His daughter.  A friend once told me, "You are God's favorite!"   I have to tell myself that over and over again because there are times when I feel I've lost my shine.  But even then, when I don't feel as pretty as I should, I am still God's favorite.  And so are you.  When I forget my lines and flub up my song, He is still proud of me.  He's proud of me because it's not about my performance or how many jewels make me sparkly, but simply because He loves me.  Period.

Thanks, little Queen of Sheba, for letting me love you.  And for allowing God to teach me a lesson through your beauty! 

Perspective

Perspective.  Life can be changed with just the change of perspective.  One time when I was going through a rough spot and wondering why God seemed to keep giving me hard things to deal with, my dad sent me this email.  Put things into perspective for me.  This is supposedly a true story which makes it even cooler!

THE ANT AND THE CONTACT LENS

     Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens.
                           
    'Great', she thought. 'Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry.' She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

                           

    She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she might find her contact lens. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse 'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.'

                              

  She thought, 'Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.'

 

    Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, 'Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?'

 

    Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

 

 

   The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, 'Lord, I don't know why you want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what you want me to do; I'll carry it for you.'

 

 

 

   I think it would do all of us some good to say, 'God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will.'