God Uses Even The Little Things

"The little things you do for your neighbor are big things in the sight of God." -Duane Allen

That quote is one that I received one day, and it really made me think. I thought it was just a normal day, I was going to school, Preacher Chris was counseling, Preacher Randy was doing his thing for God. I was just doing MY thing. At that point in time I thought that God could only use preachers everyday. I didn't think He could use me as effectively as He used Preacher Chris and Preacher Randy. I mean, come on, they ARE preachers! God ANOINTED them, right?

I had been praying and praying for God to show me how He wanted to use me. What He was going to do with my life. While I was waiting for this huge answer that would DRASTICALLY change my life, something started to happen.

Now, I've always loved to smile, it's one of my favorite things to do. Well, while I had been praying for God to do something HUGE in my life to change the world, I started getting all these compliments about my smile when I sang in choir or walked down the aisle at church or in the halls at school. At first, I didn't think much about it, but then some elders at my church started to come up to me and telling me that when I smiled, unlike alot of people in our choir **cough cough BRIAN cough cough**, it really blessed them. some people had more detailed stories and some, was just that; it blessed them.

"4Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say rejoice. 5Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord in as hand. 6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7.

Okay, so I quoted all that to say that smiling is one way you can show all this. Need me to break it down? Well, that won't be a problem.

Verse 4 talks about how you should REJOICE in the Lord ALWAYS! Not when you feel well, or every thing's going good in your life. Now don't get me wrong, there's a time and place for everything under heaven (read Ecc. 3), but we should still be REJOICING. I like that word. Rejoice. Can you say it out loud once? I dont' know about you, but it makes me want to shout! Anyways, to rejoice (for alot of people) smiling is one way to should that you are happy. And I rejoice most when I'm happy. I have an awful hard time rejoicing with a sour face on.

Verse 5- Looking up 'moderation' on dictionary.com, it says: the quality of being moderate; restraint; avoidance of extremes or excesses; temperance. The big red words pretty much says not to be too much of anything, this would include happy. I know what you're thinking, "Katie, you just said we needed to smile and REJOICE all the time! How can we NOT be extreme about it?!" I don't believe this is saying not to be EXTREME about Jesus, I think it says that we can over do the happy in some ways. You know people like this. Those overly peppy people that you believe are faking the happiness. And I think that's what God wants us to stay away from; the happy that makes people think we are faking. Now wouldn't that be wonderful? You're trying SO hard to REJOICE that it comes off as faking it. Be GENUINE about it. It needs to come from your heart, not your head, honey child.

Verse 6- The main word in this verse that I want to focus on is THANKSGIVING. Being Thankful. REJOICING in MODERATION is how we can show THANKSGIVING.

Verse 7- The verses before this(4-6) show us the way to keep that PEACE OF GOD in our lives. I've often heard that peace isn't the absence of a storm, but the present of God in our lives. And I completely agree with that. We,a s Christians, have peace after we are saved, and that should make verses 4-6 come easier to us than sinners, but sometimes I even have trouble with all of this.

So getting back to the quote... God uses even SMILES of a REJOICING heart to bless people. You don't have to be a preacher to "Rejoice in the Lord always" and be a light to someone you run into. God uses even the little things to reach people.

A good song to go with this would be Mark Lowry's "God Calls Us All." If you get a chance, look it up.

As you go on your way this week, I pray that you rejoice in the Lord always and show off that smile God gave you.

God Bless!

Falling In Love All Over Again...

 I was at work today, and I was thinking about Singing School, the Wasendorfs, the Myers and all my family and friends. Well, God came to mind, like He does often. Well, I was thinking about how He knows everything about us and everything that we have and will face. Then I got on the thought that He KNEW I would go to singing school and become friends with the people I have. When I started going to NGSGM, I had no idea that I would become so obsessed with it. When I started going (way back when), I thought it would be just a summer thing, you know, something to get me outta the house, but it became SO much more. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about someone there or my lovely, lovely teachers. There's not even a day that goes by that I don't get a song from one of our song books stuck on replay in my head. And although I didn't know that singing school would become such a big part of my life, God did. He knew before I was even born that singing school would be my everything. He knew how in love I would become with everything about the music, the people and the memories there. He knew that one day my path would cross with the Wasendorfs, my second family, and He knew how close I would become with them. He also knew every bit of drama that took place at NGSGM, and at times there was ALOT of it. He knew that there would be times that I wouldn't understand just how NGSGM was working in my life. He knew how everything would be connected. For example, last summer, when my friend Jessi found out she had cancer, I just happen to be at singing school. God knew I would need them to lean on. He was right. It was one of the most trying times in my life, and I don't think I could've made it through without them. And after Jessi passed away, they all rallied around me and helped me through it. God knew the people that could get me through it. He knew that every single person at that school would help me pray. He knew that people there would sit and talk to me about everything. He KNEW. I don't know about you, but that just amazes me. It blows my mind that God cares so much for us, that He took the time to plan out our lives and make everything fall together perfectly. It amazes me that He knew that when He made this world that He would have to send His only begotten Son to die for us. I mean, He didn't HAVE to send Jesus, but the fact that He CHOSE to, knowing all the dumb things we would do and how much we didn't deserve His Son, He STILL CHOSE. He didn't eenie, meenie, minie, moe the choice between Jesus and the angel Gabriel, oh no. He freely CHOSE HIS SON to die for the world. That puts me in awe of God. I have been in love with God for as long as I can remember, but thinking about everything God has planned for me and how much He loves me, makes me fall in love all over again.