He sees you...
It has been 7 days since committing to a 52 day journey of fasting, praying, and seeking God.
The events of last week in our country brought a heaviness I cannot describe, yet God also brought a stirring to my heart of some kind.
An odd combination of grief and heart palpitating awareness that God is calling us to do something. I believe that something is exactly what Nehemiah did...pray, fast, seek.
For the past several weeks, I have heard a whisper in my soul...Faithfulness.
It speaks as I open up my sleepy eyes each morning, and as I lay down to sleep each night.
Scripture after scripture, I see God sweetly beckon us to faithfulness.
Just this morning as I was perusing the book of Psalms, I came across this treasure..
I will search for faithful people to be my companions. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me. Psalm 101:6
Lord, show me what this means, I reply back to Him after reading.
A couple of weeks ago, I started a new secret prayer list.
Lean in close and I will share just one of those secret prayers....
I asked God to help me be more faithful in being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, and neighbor.
This desire to be faithful is woven into every moment of my day. From getting up early to spend time with Jesus, to being more thoughtful about how I spend my day. It seeps into how I take care of my house, and how I take care of my people. I think about faithfulness as I go to Target or Walmart and ask God to help me be faithful and prudent with our finances.
Faithfulness is obedience. In the smallest of things, to the biggest of things...it is what we do with our time. What we do with our money. What we do with the day in and day out activities....
Faithfulness is doing the hard work of loving those that are very difficult to love. Faithfulness is to keep persisting in prayer even when we feel like there is no way on Earth God hears us. Faithfulness is choosing to hold our tongue when we are wronged and praying for our enemies instead of throwing stones back at them.
I see this faithfulness woven into the men and women of the Bible. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, Moses, David, Ester, Mary, Ruth, Paul, John, Peter.
Slowly, I am seeing....God doesn't want my productivity, He wants my heart. A heart of faithfulness.
This routine...this day in and day out desire to be faithful...it can seem mundane and small.
No one sees these small faithful things we do.
Oh, but God does.
He is El Roi...
The God who sees me.
These things that we repeatedly do, they begin to create a foundation of faithfulness in our hearts.
These small acts of faithfulness, they begin to change our behavior. They become the habits of our hearts.
These habits can create great dividends in God's Kingdom plan here on Earth.
Nehemiah...I come to again.
His faithfulness produced miracles for many to see as he built the walls of Jerusalem in a record shattering 52 days.
In the dark hours, when no one else sees us caring for our babies, washing the 30th load of clothes for the day, getting up before the birds to just sit with Jesus, quietly praying for the needs of those around us, checking on that sweet widow who lives down the road, driving once again to our workplace wondering if we will ever get a promotion..
These habits. These things we repeatedly do...They become holy ground when we do them unto the Lord.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human master Colossians 3:23
When the work is hard, when the day is long, when our hearts are weary, when our souls are depleted, when our faith is wavering, when there seems to be no end in sight, when the miracle seems out of reach, when the marriage appears to be destroyed, when the relationship is shattered, when the illness lingers, when the wound keeps festering...
We fall into the arms of our Faithful Father.
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. Deuteronomy 7:9
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:24
El Roi...The God who sees you.
Keep going, sweet friend.
He sees you,
jill
:
