While there was nothing wrong with my original intentions for this blog, God has laid other plans on my heart. This post is a bit long, but encompasses the vision going forward.
Reflections: Refresh, Equip, Restore
2 Samuel 22:29-31 (ESV) “For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”
Webster defines a reflection as the act of casting back a light or heat, mirroring, or giving back or showing an image. Many questions arise in my mind as I ponder this one word.
- Am I an accurate reflection of God?
- Do I spend time reflecting deeply on the truth of the Bible?
- Do I see myself as God sees me?
- Does my prayer life reflect the faith and power and life that God is calling me to?
Sometimes I know the answers to these questions. At other times, the light is dim and the reflections are mere shadows, fleeting and untrustworthy.
In our chaotic lives, in MY chaotic life, how do I pause and be still? Reflections come in stillness, for if you disturb the water the reflection becomes distorted and disappears.
In my search for answers, I have come to three words: Refresh, Equip, Restore.
I, and women everywhere, need these three things.
- Refresh: we all need our spirits refreshed. We need the waters of Eternal Life to fill us and our parched and weary souls need to drink daily.
- Equip: Each one of us needs to be equipped in the Word, in Prayer and in how to live out the gifts and callings He has given us.
- Restore: We are all called OUT… to restore the lost, the broken, the sick, the hurting, the poor.
How do we do this? By traveling a spiral of sorts, through four different areas.
Abiding: We must learn to abide in Jesus. This is the cornerstone to everything else – it affects how we live, how we love and how we serve.
Going: We were commanded to go. How do we share Jesus with others? What is your story, your testimony?
Multiply: Sharing Jesus with others is so important; discipling a person in the ways of Jesus is essential.
Walking: Isaiah 58:6-11 sums this up far better than I ever could.
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed[b] go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.”
** Photo not mine, credit not available.
