Throughout my life I have met many people I have truly admired. People that have done extraordinary things
with their lives that have change the world.
Done things that have made a huge impact and changed the lives of others,
forever. So
many times when I was growing up I thought, WoW!, look at how God has used them. I never thought I could be used by God in
such a huge way as He had done with others.
But after talking with those people I admired, I either got
to know them or read more about them. I soon
learned that they were just ordinary people.
It amazes me how that thru reading the entire Bible we see the same amazing
thing. How story after story God took
ordinary people and helped them do such extraordinary things. Some of them who felt unworthy and
unqualified for the task before them like Moses. Some of them a bit unwilling like Gideon. Some of them who knew that the odds were
against them but knew their God and knew that nothing was impossible with Him. He would do what He said He would do for
them. Wow! What a thought. How encouraging and empowering the Word of
God is.
Jesus in his ministry even picked his disciples from the
average people and walks of life around him.
Just some of their occupations; a tax collector, a zealot and ordinary
fishermen. The ordinary fishermen who
when they had the catch of their lives.
Walked away from it all to follow who they knew to be The Christ. The one who asked them to let down their nets
after preaching a sermon from their boat.
After they had fished all night and caught nothing and they pulled up so
many fish it break their nets, about sunk theirs and another boat that had been
called over to help.
Luke 5:1-11 And it
came to pass, that , as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he
stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
And saw
two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and
were washing their nets.
And he
entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s and prayed him that he would
thrust out a little from the land. And
he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.
Now
when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep , and
let down your nets for a draught.
And
Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have
taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
And
when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their
net brake.
And
they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they
should come and help them. And they
came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
When
Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I
am a sinful man, Oh Lord.
For he
was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of fishes which they
had taken:
And so
was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with
Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear
not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And
when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
The fishermen obeyed the Lord and put their nets into the
water to fish when it didn’t seem like it would be worth their effort, as they
had already tried it without Him. Then
they saw He was the Christ and saw that they were sinners and unclean men and
needed Him. They dropped all they had
and all they knew and became some of Jesus personal students, disciples. At times they felt as if they lacked faith, said
the wrong things at the wrong time, fell asleep when asked to pray and sometime
just didn’t understand what was being said to them in a parable. Normal, average, men that ended up seeing the
most important history of the world with their own eyes and were the first ones
to spread the gospel far and wide even to the gentiles. Amazing!
The things I see in the people that I admire and those I love
in the Bible. The common denominator in the
lives of those people of this world, who changed the world for the Lord in a
huge way. Is that they loved God and saw
their need for Jesus. They did something
that the Lord asked them to do and He showed up in a big way for them, even
when that thing often didn’t seem possible or comfortable to do. They dropped all their worldly ideas and path
to what the world would consider success and happiness. They followed God and His calling on them and
they never looked back. In short they died
to self and truly gave God their whole life.
Everything!
The reason why I am sharing this post today is because I have
people come up to Tim and myself and say they admire us for what we do or did
with the kids. It is a very kind thing
to say and I thank you so much for the encouragement. I have often needed to hear it at that very
moment. But when people say that, Tim
and I look at each other and don’t really get it. Please know that any good you see in us is of
God. That we are just ordinary people
that love God so much we try to put Him first in our life and do what HE asks
us to do. We make many mistakes. Sometimes say the wrong things, don’t always understand
what the Lord is asking of us and miss the mark, I also sometimes fall asleep
when I am trying to pray. We have just
lived our life and answered what we feel God called us to do. Some well meaning people think that we gave
something up to live the way we do or by choosing this way over another. And the fact of the matter is…..we are
blessed and have a better and happier life than I ever could and have planned
or imagined for ourselves. I daily get
to see the hand of God working in our lives, family and in each child. As I see it, we have given up nothing and
gained everything. I look around and
know I am blessed. I know my family is
special. Who doesn’t think their family
is special? But to us it just feels
normal and God receives all the glory!
Thank you for all your kind
words and encouragement. Encouragement
is something we all need all the
time. Here are just a few family pictures over the past few years of our kids being normal happy siblings. We did foster care for so many years I had trouble finding pictures with just my kids in them. :) But here are the ones I found.
This was taken in our new addition before the electricity was put in and turned on. I was trying to take a kind of professional picture and they all just started joking and cracking up about something.
At the zoo. Stephen is not in alot of our later pictures as he had gotten a job by then.
Beach fun, brothers burying sisters in the sand in 2011.
May God richly bless us all in
our lives as we strive to give all that we have and use all we are given to His
glory. Amen.
susan
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