sowing seeds

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." ~ Galatians 6:9

It all began with seeds and suffering.

2008 and 2009 I begged God every day for a job where I could use my passions and live a life of purpose for spreading the Gospel.

Meanwhile, I was living at home. I was working part time at a golf shop and part time filing papers. I used to cry in my cubical while entering numbers into a database. Every day I wondered why? and was this really God's plan? I wanted to do so much more with my life.

July 30, 2009 I started a Bible study on Tuesday Nights for people my age. Two other people that I barely knew came for 6 weeks, then eight people started coming.

I sowed a seed. I took a little step of faith, even though I was going through such hard trials and suffering during that time.

The next day, July 1, 2009 I told God in my prayer how random and uncomfortable it felt to lead a random group of people to study his word together. I sensed him saying to me, "But you're seeking me molly, and so nothing is random."

That Bible study, that seed grew into a full blown ministry. The Young Adult Community. It was not random.

The seeds I sowed in my suffering lead to fruit that I see multiplied in so many lives today. I am in awe of his work and his plan all along.

Especially when I remember how such a small, random action lead to such big, purposeful results.

Especially when I remember how much pain it was all started in and how it is all such a joy to be a part of now.

It really is true what Pastor Steven Furtick says, "You always reap WHAT you sow. You always reap MORE than what you sow. You always reap LATER than when you sow."

So I will just keep on sowing my little seeds...

outstretched arm

When I was 20 I became so enthralled with this concept and studied it so much. Last night at family dinner my dad said something that triggered my memories of this particular time in my life when I studied this theme in the Bible. Today it's helping me again.

First. I recall Jeremiah 32:17 "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth, by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you."

Second. This verse takes me to Hebrews 1:2-3, "..Through [God's son] he made the universe... and he sustains all things by his powerful word."

I have this fact written next to these verses in Hebrews to help me remember he sustains my problems, my future and my life.

"The earth weighs 660,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons. A million earths can fit inside the sun. The sun is an averaged sized star. There are over 200 billion stars." By His Word he sustains all that. (For more a visual on this click here.) Meditating on this really helps me hear Him say to me about my problems, "Molly chill, I got this. If I can sustain all this, I can sustain you."

Third. The Jeremiah verse then points me in this direction. At the passover meal they drink four cups each representing or remembering four promises from God in Exodus 6:6-7 about the freedom of the Israelites. These four "I will" statements/promises were:

1. I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
2. I will free you from being slaves to them.
3. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.
4. I will take you as my own people and I will be your God.

Fourth. I then fast-forward hundreds of years to the "Last Supper" in Luke 22, the Passover meal Jesus participated in right before his death. Jesus did not drink the 3rd cup at this meal. The 3rd cup symbolizes the 3rd "I will" statement: I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. Not only would he become the 3rd cup and pour out his life for our redemption, he would do it with outstretched arms on the cross.

Those arms created the universe and sustains our lives. The most humble act, arms that were nailed down was the most powerful act, arms that stretched out in order to redeem us.

lifter of my head

A few weeks ago I was listening to the radio and they had like a whole afternoon tributed to 2pac. Hearing all those songs brought back such memories of high school and especially when I was 16 and I bought 2pac's Greatest Hits CD and drove around to that all the time.

Anyways that inspired me to download that album in my itunes. And the song I put on my ipod was "Keep Ya Head Up." I listened to this song every morning on my run this week.

Meanwhile I have been focused on Psalm 3 this week. Especially verse 3, "But you are a shield around me O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head."

The concept of keeping your head up is such a picture of pride, like find your own strength, do it yourself, and push forward. The concept of God lifting your head is such a humble picture because he can't lift our heads unless they are first bowed down. Keeping your own head up doesn't admit need or weakness. When we in humility say, "I can't do it on my own strength" we admit our need. Then we get to experience someone stronger to do it for us in our weakness.

When Jesus was on the cross it says, "Jesus said, It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." ~ John 19:30. Jesus bowed his head and lost his spirit, so when we bow our heads, we receive his spirit.

That is just such a beautiful picture to me. Everything he calls us to do, in this case, bow our heads, he has already done to the extreme. And because he did it he got death and because he did it we get life. What an exchange.

So next time someone says, "keep your head up" I think what the Bible would imply is to actually, "bow my head down." Bow my head in trust, in humility, and in need. And then depend on the strength of the One who bowed his head in death in order to be the Lifter of my head in life.