Being brave in God.

I want to start today’s blog by thanking everyone for their kind words and messages of support.

I have had many people over the past few days thank me for being brave enough to share my faith.  The funny thing is that I didn’t feel brave at that particular moment.  I just really wanted to share the power and impact that God has had on my life.  In a lot of ways a blog post feels like a really safe way to do that because only the people who want to read it, will.  It feels much more risky to post a bible verse on my Twitter or Instagram, or over Easter to post a picture of a cross with the words “He has risen”.  Those platforms are much more instant and visible and I always worry that I am going to drive people away or people are going to start thinking I’m so sort of crazy church lady and, as a result, tune me out.

It’s funny and sad when you really think about it…that expressing your faith and belief in God and Jesus can make people think you are crazy.  I even use that term when I talk to Dave or my kids about a message or a sign I believe I’ve had from God.  I always start that conversation with “I know you’re going to think I’ve crazy, but…”

I thought and prayed a lot about what I was going to post today.  The verse that God have me was from John 20:19,20

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week …Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this he showed them his hands and his side.  then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

When I read that verse I am reminded that even Jesus’ disciples – people who have lived with him for years didn’t recognize him until he made them really look at him.  He had to show them his wounds before they could actually see him.  How many times in our life, on a daily basis, is God trying to speak to us and we refuse to see or hear him?

When I am late, and there is no traffic at the end of our street to that I can make a left hand turn and I say “Thank you Jesus” my son used to get frustrated with me.  “Mom”, he would say, “not everything has to be about Jesus”.  But why not?  Why can’t every single good thing in our lives be from God?   Part of saying thank you is about recognizing all of the good things, even when they are small, in our lives.  It is about creating an attitude of gratitude.  I think of all the little things I do in the lives of my children to make their days easier; making breakfast, lunches, picking them up from school, driving them too school…making snacks.  These are all things they could do for themselves, but I love them and I love doing things for them.  If we believe that we have a Father in heaven, is it so unreasonable, so crazy to think that he would be willing to do little things for us to make our lives easier too?  I challenge you to try it today.  Be brave, even crazy for God.  Every time something goes well, try saying thank you.  I would suggest that you might be surprised by just how much better you feel about yourself and maybe just how loved you feel by God at the end of the day.

God Bless!

Meredith