“Left Behind” Opportunities

“Left Behind” Opportunities

“When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality”

Romans 12:13 NLT

Awhile back my daughter & I went to Walmart to get a few groceries. We got to the self check out and began scanning our groceries. My daughter had money with her and decided to buy some gum. When I was done checking out and ready to pay, I got my wallet out and immediately panic set in. I couldn’t find my debit card anywhere! Instant alarm arose in me. Ladies, I am sure you know the feeling!

In my panic induced state, my daughter is still going on and on about which pack of gum to buy! I was trying my best not to snap at her, but she was greatly annoying me, and that just seemed to increase the anxiety! It was definitely a chaotic moment. As I was unloading my purse in the middle of Walmart! I finally gave up and ended up paying with a check. So I push the check button on the register and this cashier comes over and informs me that I needed to load all of my groceries back into the cart and go to another register!

Meanwhile, I am still in panic mode, totally absent minded about my debit card being gone. And my daughter, bless her heart, is STILL going on about the pack of gum. She was not being helpful at all! I finally paid for my groceries and my daughter paid for her gum! We finally got to leave Walmart!

When I got out to my van I was trying to retrace my steps in my mind. What had I done with my debit card? And....Sarah is still talking about the pack of gum she bought!!! She was all excited about what a good deal she had got on it!!!! It had been a busy weekend for me with a women’s event. It took up most of the weekend. And I just couldn’t remember where or when I used my debit card last.

As I calmed myself down and really focused my thoughts, I finally remembered where it could be. So I texted my husband and sure enough, He found it tucked in my coat pocket where I had left it. How careless we can become when we get too busy.

But that’s not the end of the story…..

We got home, I had Bryce unload all the groceries. At least I thought I had! I told Sarah to put some of the groceries away. I got side tracked doing something else, so a couple hours later I decided to put the rest of the groceries away. To my panic, once again, half of my groceries I bought were missing!

I asked Bryce if he got all the groceries out of the van, he said he did. But I had to double check, and sure enough there were no groceries in the van. I was missing 2 bags of groceries!! Somehow, someway in the midst of all the chaos of checking out at Walmart, I managed to leave them in the bagging area when I had to move registers.

I called Walmart and explained what happened. They wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone and said i needed to come into the store! So I drove all the way back over to Walmart. I got to the customer service desk and the lady pulls this binder out with a label on it that said “Left Behind”. My heart instantly stopped, I even looked at my husband and pointed it out. In that binder it contained every single item that people had managed to leave behind at the registers. Other people, in their busyness and chaos had done the same thing as me.

But what is the lesson in all of this? What was dropped in my lap by God? We as Christians live busy lives doing “good” things! But in the chaos, we loose focus, become stressed out and forget about things right in front of us. We go about our day going through the motions and somedays even leaving some of those motions out!

But God was not talking to me about my groceries at that moment, he was talking about people! In the chaos of our day what things get left behind? I know in my chaotic trip to Walmart I left a lot of things behind. More than I care to list! But also simple acts were left behind. A simple act of helping someone with their cart, a simple act of letting someone go before me, a simple act of just smiling at someone, etc, my list can go on and on.

But in all of this I felt God saying, “Don't go out among my people and “leave behind” opportunities to be present with them”. Ladies, we cant just go through the motions! When we do, we miss out on opportunities that God has for us! Has God placed someone in your path that needs something that you have to offer? Do people around you need prayer, an encouraging word, an encouraging smile or just a simple act of kindness?

This quote sums it up for me!

“Christ has no body on earth but yours. No hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are they eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out. Yours are the feet which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.” 

St. Teresa of Avila

Ladies, lets not get caught up in our chaos and end up with “Left Behind” Opportunities. Let us go out and be God’s hands and feet…even at Walmart!

"Up or Down the Mountain"

"Up or Down the Mountain"

Having a teenage boy and a pre-teen daughter, things can get really interesting in my house! I get so upset with my kids when I hear them talking negatively to themselves about themselves. There was one day I had all I could possibly take! One of my kids was talking so negatively, I looked at them and said:

 “You can talk yourself up the mountain 

or you can talk yourself down the mountain. 

I can’t control how you talk to yourself.”

Then, you know how God always tends to work in funny ways! About a week later, I was in a position where I was just reading myself the riot act...in my head of course! Something had upset me!  Before I knew it I was allowing all these negative words to consume me and to be spoken to me....by me!

At that moment what I had spoken to my children came flooding back into my mind. “You can talk yourself up the mountain or you can talk yourself down the mountain. I can’t control how you talk to yourself.” 

We can’t control how others talk about themselves or others. But guess what ladies, we can control how we talk to ourselves! God can control how we talk to ourselves! How do you talk to yourself? Let’s not allow ourselves to talk ourselves up a mountain. Let’s take control of how we talk to ourselves about ourselves. 

When we participate in conversations with ourselves, more times than not, we are led up the mountain. We get all worked up, which ends up filling ourselves with anxiety & fear. 

Instead of participating in that negative conversation with myself, I should have participated in a positive conversation with my loving Father. I should have asked Him to take control of my thoughts and feelings. I should have let Him lead me down the mountain.

“So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. Follow the example of all that we have imparted to you and the God of peace will be with you in all things.”

Philippians 4:8-9 TPT

So why should we let God control our thoughts? Why should we let Him lead us down the mountain? Because He loves us! He wants to speak life into us, not deplete us of it. He wants us to live in peace, not in anxiety. 

Let’s push aside all the negative thoughts and feelings! Listen & look to our Heavenly Father! He is the “God of Peace”. 

Evidence

“Evidence”

“Yes, God raised Jesus to life! And since God’s Spirit of Resurrection lives in you, he will also raise your dying body to life by the same Spirit that breathes life into you!”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:11‬ ‭TPT‬‬

My daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 9. It has always been a struggle trying to maintain her blood sugar levels. But over the past couple of months, it was a CONSTANT struggle. It was taking its toll on Sarah’s body. No matter what we did, we couldn’t get her blood sugar under control. It was so bad that her daily blood sugar readings were averaging in the mid-high 200’s (it’s supposed to be between 70-120).

Sarah & our family were stressed. I remember one night, Sarah’s blood sugar alarm just kept going off constantly, alerting her that she was above 300. There was nothing we could do and it was in the middle of the night. She was exhausted and not in the mood to be messed with. That night ended with us both crying and wanting to give up! We were at our limit! Nothing was working.

A few days later, Sarah went to our church’s youth retreat with her brother & Dad. The first night there, the youth pastors wife had Sarah & another girl stand in the middle of a prayer circle. All the youth & staff gathered around and prayed over her. My husband said he had never seen such passionate, fervent, fierce & persistent prayer! It was powerful! He was just overwhelmed with tears! God’s presence was intense. He couldn’t help but believe that something had changed in Sarah.

The amazing thing is that ever since the retreat, Sarahs blood sugar readings seemed to stabilize. I couldn’t believe it! One day I decided to download her blood sugar records onto the computer. I wanted to see the evidence. I needed to see it with my eyes!

When I looked at the chart I couldn’t believe what I saw. She takes her blood sugar about 4 times a day. When I looked at the chart she went from having 3-4 high sugar readings EACH DAY to now maybe having 3 high readings in a WHOLE WEEK. Hallelujah! The evidence was perfectly clear! God had moved in Sarahs life!

I wanted to shout it from the rooftops! I knew that I had to share this with other people! Others needed to hear about what happened at the youth retreat. They needed to hear about the powerful, persistent, fervent praying that the youth did at this retreat! They needed to know that God’s power is within us! They needed to know that we can pray over people with confidence!

During this time the song Same Power by Jeremy Camp came to my mind:

“The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us, lives in us
He lives in us, lives in us”

Ladies, this makes me want more!!!! Does it make you want more?!?!? I always KNEW that we held the same power in us. But this made me BELIEVE it! It makes me want to shout & jump & dance!!!! It makes me want more of God!

Let’s not hold back! Let‘s BELIEVE that this power is in us, and act like it! Let our prayers be powerful, passionate, fervent, fierce & persistent! Then look for the evidence, because it’s all around!