A Dust Pan...

As part of our Bible curriculum for homeschooling, we are reading through a book about missionaries, Missionary Stories with the Millers.  I highly recommend it!  It is a wonderful book with true stories of true heroes of our faith... I have enjoyed it just as much and maybe even more than the boys, but they do get excited when it is time to read from it!

Last week we read a story that has really stuck with me, and I wanted to share a portion here with those of you who still stop by for a visit, in spite of my lack of consistency! 

The story takes place in South Africa, and is about a little boy who begged to go to the mission with the missionary, because he wanted to learn about Jesus and learn to read the Bible.  This required the little boy leaving his family and walking for 9 weeks to get to the mission!  What commitment and dedication on the part of a child!  I can not imagine doing that as an adult...

Once at the mission, the little boy enthusiastically learned all that he could... he was like a sponge, soaking up as much as his little brain could contain.  The following passsage is what spoke to me and has really had me thinking...  he has just learned about a dust pan, something he has never seen before...

"Thank you!" called the boy as he hurried past on his way to school.  Slipping into his seat, he waited for class to begin.  As soon as the teacher called his name, Tisese rose to his feet. "Teacher," he told the missionary solemnly, "I want you and everyone to know that my name is no longer Tisese, 'the animal which runs through the woods'.  Now that I am a Christian, my name shall be 'Dust Pan' forever!"


"Dust Pan?" the teacher exclaimed, surprised.  "Why ever would you want your name to be Dust Pan?"


"Because, Teacher," the boy replied earnestly, "I was just passing your house and saw your wife sweeping, with that tool called a dust pan in her hand.  She carried all the dirt out of your hut with it.  I want to be a dust pan, too, so that when I go home I may carry out the dirt from the lives of my father, my family, and all my friends.  I want to be a Dust Pan for Jesus!"

And Dust Pan did just that!  When he went back home, it took time, but he eventually led his whole family to Christ... even his father who was one of the most famous witch doctors and killed almost 600 people a year!  What a powerful story!

So, what would you change your name to in order to symbolize what you would like to do for Jesus?  I have been thinking and thinking about this... what common, everyday object would I want to be called if it symbolized what God was using me for in His Kingdom.  And I am still thinking...   what about you?

A Love that Never Fails or Disappoints...

 

This post has been brewing in my heart for the past few days, as Valentine's Day has been approaching.  And I now find myself with a few moments of quiet and an opportunity to put my thoughts here who for whoever happens to pop in for a visit. 

I always like to not only focus on our "worldly" reasons for holidays, but I like to think about the spiritual significance they can also have... so I have been thinking about how the love of God always satisfies and how His love is the only one which can meet the deepest, most unspoken needs of our hearts.  Years ago I was truly ministered to as I read "The Perfect Love" by Ruth Myers.  I had just suffered a big-time broken heart as my fiance had broken things off and we were no longer engaged or even seeing each other... my future was uncertain, I had 3 friends who were engaged and whose weddings I was in (how hard was that!), and I was just plain hurting.  So I sought comfort in God and His Word... and He spoke powerfully to me through His Word and through the book I mentioned above.  He brought total and complete healing to my heart and I found a love that would never abandon me or change His mind about me. 


I wanted to share a few quotes from "The Perfect Love" that truly ministered to me.  It has been years since I read this book, but some of the passages I can remember as if I read them yesterday...

"This is where we find the kind of love we most deeply need - not in human relationships, but in God.  If we want real love, ideal love, perfect love, God's heart is where to find it.  It's the only love big enough to meet the God-sized needs of your life and mine."


"Indeed God can and will go beyond merely meeting those needs.  'God is so vastly wonderful,' wrote A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God, 'so utterly and completely delightful, that He can without anything other than Himself meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is.' ... God has proven to me that He can more than satisfy my heart - as I let Him." (page 7)


"I discovered that God's lovingkindness is good, abundant, marvelous, precious, and better than life.  It extends to the heavens, and the earth is full of it.  It is from everlasting, and it will be built up forever.  It is mine for all the days of my life and for all of eternity.  The Lord shows it to those who trust Him, who fear Him, and who call upon Him.  It follows us, surrounds us, and crowns us.  By it we enter His house, by it we expect answers to prayer, and through it we will stand unshaken, for it will hold us up when our feet slip.  It satisfies us and is the one unfailing basis for rejoicing and being glad all our days.  It is infused into all God is and into all He does ..." (page 99)

So, for those of you who are sad, lonely, or depressed this Valentine's Day, lift your eyes up, focus them on the one who died for you, who passionately and fiercely loves you, who will satisfy your every need, and who alone can give you all the love your heart desperately desires.  Find joy and contentment in His love... and He will bring peace to your heart and soul.


"May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high His love really is, and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it.  And so at last you will be filled up with God Himself."  Ephesians 3:17-19 The Living Bible