Sunday, May 22, 2011

I Am Learning...

1.   I have all the time I need.
                Frankly, I’m a busy girl.  With three children under the age of 7 and a house I attempt to keep up with, I’m also a professor and a choral director.  The Evidence CD project will not produce itself, and I manage a lot of our ongoing details and responsibilities.  Then there’s regular church ministry, trying to be a good neighbor, daughter, friend, wife, and the list goes on and on (as I’m sure you can all relate!).  I have often found myself saying, “I only wish there were more than 24 hours in a day!”
                But there is something our pastor said in a long-ago sermon which stuck with me:  “You have all the time you need (to do what God has called you to do!).”
                God knew what He was doing when He set the earth spinning on its axis.  24 hours IS all I need.  Because I should only be doing what He has asked me to do.  Everything else is wasting my time.  Opportunities come knocking, but I am not meant to walk through every open door.  But I AM meant to give my best to every door HE has opened for me.

2.  God is never surprised.
                I’ll be honest.  Evidence has been thrown some curve balls lately.  But every unexpected situation I’ve had to deal with was only unexpected to me.  God knew they were coming.  And not only is that alone a comfort—to know that He is sovereign and He still called us to our ministry knowing what was going to be thrown at us—but God also prepared some unexpected encouragement to come our way at just the right times.  In fact, quite a bit of it!  I am learning to cling to those home runs during an inning of curve balls.  (Why I’m using baseball analogies, I have no idea.)

3.   The fields are white.
                “The fields are white” is a line from our song, “Be the Evidence.”  And we have experienced some reaping of the harvest lately.  There often are concerts during which we can sense the Spirit moving and visibly see a lot of the audience tracking with the testimonies and the songs. 
                And then there are other concerts.  
                When the energy is more laid-back, it’s more difficult to tell if the message is reaching across from the platform to the pew.  But we have learned those may be the times when God is moving in perhaps just one person.  There is one soul in that audience for whom we are singing—one heart God has purposed to be there and hear the “words of hope and truth.” 
                And it’s worth it.  Every bit of labor spent is worth it for that one person.  They are the harvest and it feels like a feast.