Let's Be Salt & Pepper

I have been studying the most amazing passage this week. It's so good! Let me share it! (Don't skim! read!)
Col 1:9-14
We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 14 God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.

What an amazing prayer Paul was praying for the Colossians! Wouldn't you like to have Paul praying this for you? Every sentence is something I desperately want! It's the burning desire of my heart!

1. To have a complete understanding of what He wants to do in my life. Anyone else want that? Raise your hand...

2.That he would make me wise with spiritual wisdom. That's the only way I'm going to be wise. I don't feel wise, and yet in James 1:5-7, it says we only have to ask for wisdom and BELIEVE He will answer! "If you need wisdom- if you want to know what God wants you to do- ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."

3. Then the way I live with always please the Lord! Rock on!

4. I will continually do good and kind things for others. I won't miss out on opportunities to bless others, which I undoubtedly often do. We will be fulfilling His desire for us, as in verses like 2 Timothy 3:17, that He's equipping us with His Word to do good things. In essence to be salt and light for Him.

5. I will know God better and better! Yes!

6. I will be strengthened by his glorious power, with more than enough patience and endurance. Hello!!!! I have four little ones!!! Please pray this for me!!!

7.I will be filled with joy, and always thanking the Father! Wow! I want that. That would solve a lot of my sin issues.

If anyone wants to get my family something for Christmas, just pray this prayer for us. This is amazing. I want it all so much! Can you imagine what our lives would be like if we had all of this all of the time? Amazing!
When it talks about continually doing good and kind things for others, that reminded me of a talk I had with Emma recently. She heard a lesson in children's church by Mr. Howard (who by the way, Jax calls Mr. Coward...ha! He is not slamming Mr. Howard. He's just mixing up his words in the cutest 5 year old way! Who can correct that?) He talked to the kids about being salt and light to the world, from Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5. This made such an impression on her! First of all, she didn't understand the analogy of salt. That was confusing at first. I think she raised her hands several times during the lesson. But when we got in the car, she actually told us about it, and you could tell, God was speaking to her heart. (Remember, Emma knows the Lord!) We talked about it again a few days later, and she wanted to know how SHE could be salt and light, except she kept mixing it up and saying "salt and pepper." (Again, so cute!!!) She and I stopped and prayed that God would show her how to be salt and light to the world in specific ways. I told her, because the Holy Spirit lives in her, He would nudge her heart when there was something He wanted her to do. (She had also been asking me good questions around that time about how do you know when God is speaking to you? Yes, she keeps us on our toes.) Then she gave me an example of a time God spoke to her heart about how to bless someone else. We started going to Crestview Nursing Home around that time. Rusty has patients there, and we took our HOPE group there one night to sing for them. Well, turns out, my kids are AMAZING with old people! I really love them too, so we have been going there once a week for most of the semester to visit with them. Emma felt the urge to go talk to one particular woman sitting in the lobby, and she did. You should see God working through her at Crestview! I wish you all could witness it!
This has been our way to be salt and pepper to the "widows", the often times forgotten, talked about in James 1:27. ("Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us." Our family in the past few years has taken this call to orphans and widows more seriously than ever!) I may not have found all my kids niche in their sports abilities, or their hidden talents, but I have found an amazing ministry ability in them in ministering to sometimes very sick, older people who will face eternity soon. We have prayed over some, and last week got to ask one of our favorite of Rusty's patients if she assuredly knew Jesus. She was sure she did, and she has been very ill in the hospital this week. What a blessing to know that when she dies, my kids and I can celebrate her being with Jesus and that we'll see her again!
I will try to post some pics of my kids with our friends at Crestview. And really, if anyone ever wants to go with us, let me know! We would love it! Come be "salt and pepper" with us!!!