NOT TO US

Last weekend was quite the spiritual mountaintop. As I was reciting Scripture while running those last couple miles with Grace, I felt like I could talk to anyone about Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit was so near and palpable. After I came home and came down from that mountaintop I entered back into my normal life. Homeschooling, errand-running, homemaking. I ran out of printer ink so I headed out to Office Depot. A couple years ago I bought a bunch of evangelistic booklets from Desiring God and tried to figure out how to pass them out. I'm not a natural in the cold-turkey evangelism department. I don't know many who are. But God has gently encouraged me to get out of my comfortable suburban bubble and see the opportunities to share Him. One idea has been to hand out these booklets to the store cashiers where I do my errands. Just a booklet and a simple message - "This is for you in case you don't know Christ." I've always been nervous to do this. Almost every single time I make excuses not to do it. I battle feelings of not wanting to do it. And many times I've copped out. But every single time I've followed through God has blessed me in some way. You'd think that after the weekend I had and the experience I'd just had with the power of God's word it would be a cinch to hand this booklet out at Office Depot. It wasn't. I was still nervous. I still made excuses. I still battled feelings of not wanting to do it. And I left the store with booklet still sitting in my purse.

I could've gone home and wallowed in a pit of failure. I'm very familiar with that pit. That pit is where I like to examine all my fears and failures. Many a pity party has occurred in that pit. But God calls me out of that pit and I am learning not to go there as much anymore. He lifts my head up to Him and looks with eyes of grace. He reminds me to stop looking inward for the power and the motivation. The source is in Him, in His Spirit. The power that overwhelmed my weak frame when I was struggling through the end of the marathon didn't come from me. That was obvious. It came when I called out to Him with His Word. The same power is promised in my everyday life. While I'm homeschooling, errand-running, homemaking. When I'm standing in line at the checkout next time.