Tiny Blessings

Below is an article I wrote in 2003. I thought this blog would be a good place to share it.

Tiny Blessings

When I was in college I was blessed to be able to spend a semester in Vienna, Austria with a group of 30 other students. As you can imagine, it was a very exciting and memorable time of my life. I brought home pictures, souvenirs and memorabilia of all kinds in order to remember the experience. However, in the years that followed my return, our family moved a couple of times and somewhere along the line my keepsakes disappeared. I tried several times to find the items. I looked through all of my boxes at home as well as those at my parents' home and found only disappointment. There was nothing to be found from my trip. We all believed that they somehow got lost in one of the moves.

Months later, on an early Saturday morning, I woke up for some reason with those lost items on my mind. Something inside of me told me I should pray about them. Why would God care about these things? I didn't know. But I prayed anyway. I remember asking God to help my keepsakes show up somehow. I remember saying to Him that I knew having them back wasn't important in the overall scheme of life. However, having them was important to me and I'd like to have them.

Later that very same day my dad called me. He said he had been going through the boxes again looking for something and came across some items that looked like they were mine. Indeed, they were. They were my Vienna keepsakes. My prayer had been answered.

Some people will hear that story and toss it off as a coincidence or say that my keepsakes were there all along and we just missed them. Some will say that there was no answered prayer. Because some will say that God doesn't bother Himself with things of so little importance. You see, growing up I had the perception, like many others, that God's too busy to mess with the "little things" in our lives. My belief was that God has bigger issues to deal with such as world hunger, peace and the state of Christianity than to care about whether or not I have souvenirs from a college trip, or pass an algebra test in high school, or get to the airport in time to make my flight home. How wrong I was to believe that way. Yes, it is true - God does have bigger issues to deal with. But remember - He's God - He can do ALL things (ALL the time).

We have a tendency to believe that we should only pray about the big things in life such as finding a Christian mate, getting a job, or getting out of debt. But doesn't God already promise to provide for us the things we need? In Matthew 6:25 it says "do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear...your heavenly Father knows that you need them." God's blessings don't always stop with our "needs". If we don't believe that God gets involved with the little things in our lives, we end up putting boundaries on His love for us and limiting the blessings we can receive from Him.

Think about our relationship with God in terms of a parent/child relationship. God is our Father and yes, He has a lot to do. But He's not too busy for His children. He still has time to support us at our Little League games and He still has time to read us a story before we go to bed. Why? Because He loves us so much that He makes time for us. He cares about the little things in our lives because we care about those things. I believe it brings God great joy to answer our prayers and to give us those "tiny blessings" just as it would for a parent to bless their child.

God provides for the world but His blessings don't stop at a worldly level. God does more than that. He takes time to listen to our specific wants and needs - both big and small. It is in those answered prayers - those personal "tiny blessings" where we can really see how much He loves us and how personally involved God is in our lives. I believe God takes pleasure in being involved in every aspect of our lives. That is a joy unparalleled by anything else. It's kind of like He says: "Today I fed and clothed the world - but for you - a little something extra special. Just because I love you."

So don't be afraid to pray for the little things. Give it a try. Pray and watch for the answers to show up in your life. Watch for the "tiny blessings". You will see God's amazing hand wrapped all around your life. We all want to feel special and God loves telling us how special we are.

The Birth of a Savior

Luke 1:26-35

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called, the Son of God."

It's a great story isn't it? God - the creator of the universe came down from His much more comfortable surroundings and became one of us. He became one of His own creations. Can you really even imagine that? Reading further in Luke the passage leads us to the birth of Jesus. It seems natural that greatness begets greatness. But God likes to prove otherwise. He took an obedient couple who lived in completely humble circumstances and brought forth a Savior. Our Savior!! The one and only Savior!! We are truly blessed.

A friend said on Facebook that Jesus Christ is the best gift we could ever receive. Isn't that the truth? It's Christmas time and we celebrate the birth of our Savior. Although, we may not know the exact date of his birth it doesn't really matter? The point is that He was born! That He lived! That He died (taking our sins with Him)! And most importantly - that He rose again giving us a new hope and a new beginning. To that - I am eternally grateful!!!

Introduction

Dear reader: If you are at all like me, you have your very own faith struggles. There are times when I find it hard to keep my faith strong. My spiritual road trips into periods of doubt, loss, abandonment and frustration are none too fun. Satan uses every possible travel agent to convince me to take one of those trips. Sadly, those destinations are filled with hurt and disappointment. They are gloomy and unfulfilling. I must continually remind myself that I have my own Godly agent who wants me to enjoy the splendor of His kingdom - a destination worthy of my undivided attention. He is the only agent that has my best interest at heart. He is the only one who deserves my focus. One of the ways for me to grow in the Lord is through the obvious - studying the Word. What I think is truly remarkable about God's Word is that even though I may have read a passage many times it can still reveal wonderful new tidbits of hope, revelation, and love each time I read it. There are moments when I'm reading the Bible when a vision hits me so strongly. Not an actual vision per se but a visual representation of the words or truth I've just read. Suddenly a light bulb comes on and I have a new understanding. I often like to write down these visuals. I do this mostly because it helps me retain what I've learned. If I don't do this, I will likely forget sooner than later. I don't want to forget. These are gems that God has blessed me with. I have decided to create this blog to record some of these gems as well as Bible studies, prayers and devotional thoughts. Blogging will hopefully give me motivation to keep learning, keep sharing and ultimately - keep "building my faith". If I can help build your faith in the process of building mine, that is all the more rewarding. Please feel free to share your thoughts of inspiration and study ideas. We can build each other’s faith. Thank you and enjoy!