Give Me Your Eyes So I Can See...

Jesus was in the business of making miracles happen in his time here on earth. One particular miracle that is shouts volumes is the miracle of making the blind see. There is someone who has never seen the world, they live in, but they have never really SEEN it. Things that they thought existed in one way, with sight suddenly appear to be another way. Please don't misunderstand my next statement, because I truly believe that the bible refers to a literally blindness and God's ability to produce literal sight for someone whose eyes do not work properly.

But, how many of us are blind and in need of a miracle to see again?

So, if I am not talking about literal blindness, what am I talking about?
I am talking about seeing things like Jesus sees them. How many of us need for Jesus to lay his hands on us and ask us to open our eyes to see the world how he sees it? I dare say that all of us do.

One particluar story of focus is in Mark 8:22-26.

Jesus was brought a blind man, from people who are begging Jesus to touch him and heal him. And Jesus takes the blind man out away from the village to give him sight. Jesus takes the spit on his hands and lays them on his eyes. The man is then able to see!

Read the story for yourself, and you will gain even more insight to what God is revealing through this passage.

But two things I see here:

1. The begging people.

If we are to gain the sight to see the world as Jesus sees it. We must ask him for this sight. Because Jesus is no longer present in the flesh, this means we must talk to him through prayer. We must pray to ask God to let us see things that maybe we haven't seen before, because we were still looking through our human or selfish natured lens. Beg God to transform your sight from blindness to a supernatural sight.

2. Jesus took the blindman out of the village.

There could be many explanations for why he does this. But, I believe that Jesus took this man away from the village, to get him away from the worldly distractions. For Jesus to be able to give him sight, the man could not be distracted by the things taking place in the village. HOW TRUE IS THIS FOR OUR LIVES?!? We can be so distracted by the things we think are important in the village that we miss the opportunity to open our eyes to a new world!

I'm preaching to myself when I say, take the time to get away from the distractions of life, and beg God to see things that maybe you have never seen before.

But, here is the catch! Fredrick Buechner says,

"The hardest thing about really seeing and really hearing is when you really have to do something about what you have seen or heard."

Let's not allow God to give us his sight and see the hurt, or the need for love, or the opportunity to minister, or the ability to show others who his is... and NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!

IF you are ready for the challenge,
beg God with me, get away from the distraction with me, and let's see the world
in a different light, and change the world by showing them the Light of the
World!

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your
eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for
humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are
far beyond my reach?
Give me your heart for the one's forgotten
Give me
your eyes so I can see

-Brandon Heath

Here Comes the Bride...

In the nursing program, it seems there is something in the water. My classmates are getting engaged by the handfuls. Pretty soon, those without a ring will be a minority.

And while this is an exciting time, for many, it is hard news to hear because they too want to be the soon-to-be bride.

I am writing to myself and the many others who might need an encouragement during this time in our lives of desiring marriage.

Truth: God gives us the example of earthly marriage to represent our relationship with Him.

A marriage relationship is the blend of committment, intimacy, openess, forgiveness, sacrifice, the ability to build new life, etc. But, don't you get it? This is the exact relationship that our God desires with us! We are intended to be married to HIM!

"For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." Isaiah 54:5


So...if we are to be married to him, then there must be an engagment, there must be a wedding, and there must be a honeymoon, too! But, we can't follow through with all of these things without some preparation involved.

First we must find a dress. It has to be perfect, it has to enhance us to our full potential. And be the envy of those in attendance. But what would you say if I told you, your groom picked it for you? He knew just what you wanted, and even what you needed to make you look your absolute best for this once in a life time occassion.

GOD DOES THIS. HE picks our dress!

"I delight greatly in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridgegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a BRIDE adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10

All you have to do is, "Say Yes to the Dress"! :)

Then, as a bride, we worry. Will my groom think I'm beautiful in my dress? Will he be taken away at my beauty? What will he think when I walk down the aisle?

"You have stolen my heart, my sister, my BRIDE; you have with stole my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace." Song of Solomon 4:9

No need to worry because, we have stolen our groom's heart! And, He was impressed with just a glance!

Now for the reception. This is a time of celebration for the new marriage! And God doesn't miss out on that either!

"As a bridegroom rejoices over his BRIDE, so will your God rejoice over you." Isaiah 62:5

God rejoices over us. He celebrates with us the opportunity to have a deeper relationship with Him!

Let's always remember that we are first a bride to God, our husband, before we are or will ever be a bride to an eartly husband. And, let's leave the details to our first love. He will provide. Trust that HIS timing is best, and worth the wait. But in the waiting, learn to fall in love with Him! So that as you "grow old" with God he might be able to say,

"I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown." Jeremiah 2:2

Come Away With Me!

We have started a girls bible study at the new house! We are reading through the book, "Lady in Waiting." We talk about the book, but we also get off on the good topic of talking about how God is trying to relate what to book says to our lives specifically! Thursday nights have become my favorite time of the week!

Last night, we talked about being a "Lady of Virtue." One of the stories we talked about was the story of a woman named Rebekah in the Bible. The story is found in Genesis 24. I wanted to write about Rebekah because she possess many of the qualities that I desire to be in a woman.

Rebekah worked for her father in the fields. She was the keeper of "her father's house." But Rebekah wasn't working in the fields, and complaining about her life and how hard it was, she just worked. Why? Because she was working for the Lord! God had called her to that hard work, and that is where she stayed. She had such a close relationship with God that she knew exactly where to be, and was content doing it.

The servant of Isaac (son of Abraham) was sent to find a wife for Isaac in the land that Abraham was from. As Abraham asked the servant to go and find this wife for his son, the servant questioned Abraham. Asking, 'what if she's not there, what if I don't find her?' And I love that Abraham replies with such confidence in our God. He says, (I am paraphrasing) 'The Lord has promised me that my offspring will have this land. Your journey will be successful. But if her family refuses to give her to you, you will be released from the oath.'

When I look at this I can't help but see all the choices before the people in this story. Abraham had to choose to follow through with God's promise to him, and TRUST God enough to have confidence that the Lord would provide. The servant had the choice to believe that what his master (Abraham) was saying would come true, because the Lord had promised it would. And finally, even before the journey started, the Lord had to be preparing the family to allow their daughter to return to be Isaac's wife.

So because I gave the story away, and introduced Rebekah, and we know that God has Rebekah waiting for Isaac, we also know that the woman the servant finds is Rebekah. But the part of the story that motivates me everytime is what happens just before the servant leaves. He asks the family to take Rebekah, and remember I said God must have been working on them in advanced, well the family says, "no." They don't just come out and say, "No," but they say, 'You can have Rebekah, but just let her stay with us 10 days more.' Probably an excuse that many of us, including my self have given God time and time again. "God I will do it but when.... God I will do what you what in X amount of time...."

But, please understand, giving God an excuse is the same as telling him, "NO!" It just sounds nicer to us. And, hear me when I say, God is not okay with our hesitancy.

So, the servant basically says, 'it's now or never, the now is what the Lord has blessed.' And the indecisive family says, 'ok, we will let Rebekah choose.' They bring Rebekah in and ask her if she wants to leave now, and she replies, "I WILL GO." THIS IS HOW I WANT TO BE!

You see, Rebekah, followed God so closely that she knew. She knew, that God was asking her to go. And how awesome is this! Because for so long God had told Rebekah to stay. And because of her character and relationship with God, she was willing to follow where ever he would lead, whether that meant to work in a field, or become the wife of a wealthy man.

God blesses obedience. And when he calls us to go, He doesn't mean later, He means now!

Oh, how I hope to become a Rebekah! To follow my Master, because of my LOVE for Him, and my trust in the idea that He is going to create something beautiful and something greater then I could have ever imagined out of my life, just from my willingness to drop it all for Him!

And as one of my beautiful friends Nicole said last night, "Just drop the pot and go!" ---> Read the story in Genesis 24 to know what she means!<---

When God asks you to come away with Him....Go!

When we just drop everything and, "Go!," what a beautiful picture of wreckless abandon we are creating for our King!



GO, now!

All Things Work Together for my Good

Sorry blog world! It's been a while. School has started back and my time to write has become very limited. Some of it is due to the many hours spent in nursing work while others of it has been spent watching God do some pretty amazing things!

Many of you know, my dad is building a house close to CN's campus. It has been a very exciting and very draining process. I have learned SO much about building, and the language that goes along with it. Ha ha! There have been times I have walked into Home Depot asking for, "one of those things that does that." What a humbling and learning experience!

Well, along with this house God has changed SO much in my life since even the summer! Going into this semester, I had comfort in the fact that Nicole, one of my roommates from last year would be living in the new house my dad has built with me. And, close to the end of the summer Nicole was praying about moving out of state and told me she was not going to live in the house, in case God was in fact calling her to move. I am so proud of Nicole for being obedient! BUT, I on the other was not looking at the BIG picture like Nicole was. I immediately started getting upset with God! I remember thinking, 'You've placed Tyler in Chattanooga, You're taking Nicole away from me, You are moving me to a new place, You've got me here ALL by myself, with no control anymore!' And God's still small voice replied, 'You're right where I want you. Remember, Madison, I CAN be trusted.'

WOW! So here I am trying my best to trust what God had planned for this year. Which leads me to an e-mail that I received a few DAYS after my "come to Jesus moment." :) I got an e-mail from a man named Dr. Danny Nicholson, he is the new V.P. of Advancement at Carson-Newman. He explained that he had something he wanted to talk to me about, upon making the trip up to CN for our meeting, I was amazed at this man's enthusiasm and heart and love for the Lord, he is really inspirational! (I can't say enough as to how great I think he is.) But, in our meeting he asked if I would like to organize/lead what is now called, The Student Philanthropy Project, at Carson-Newman. I agreed, not really understanding what I was signing up for, but looking back, God had brought me to THIS spot, empty handed, "all alone," scared, and trusting for Him to do BIG BIG things this year.

So, last night was the kick-off. I had the priviledge to speak to about 300-400 students on the project, and how God was calling us as students to GIVE of ourselves, to no longer be selfish, but to do something for others! And in the midst of what I was saying, GOD was doing all the work! I came back from the microphone, and Dr. Nicholson came and handed me a handful of cash. He said, "this is from the catering staff." You see we had our event catered by Aramark, and the staff that prepared the food overheard what God was/is doing and brought together all the cash they had in the back to GIVE. They were in uniform there were SERVING already, but GOD IS SO BIG! HE does things BIG! He calls EVERYONE to be selfless, even those who are already being selfless! Even those who are already serving, KEEP serving! We aren't "SPECIAL" or to be noticed because we are serving God, we are doing what we are CALLED to do! (I am speaking to myself here!)

So, needless to say, I noticed the power of God last night in what the kitchen staff did. I was literally speechless when Dr. Nicholson handed me the money. And with tears in my eyes, I realized HOW BIG what we were doing was, and how God had/has his hand all over this thing that I thought I was coordinating. Boy, was I wrong, God was doing ALL the work and I had to step back and let Him do it!

One final thing that God has showed me over the past few weeks is how obedience and hard work pay off. Upon leaving the event last night Dr. Nicholson pulled me aside. And he is so good at thanking me for working with him but, last night he said something that was so profound, and God was speaking through what he said to me. He said,

"Dear sister in Christ, I am so proud of you."

My thought immediatly went to how it must feel for God to look at us and say, "I am so proud of you!" When we have, "Fought the good fight of the faith." 1 Timothy 6:12, and God says, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" Matthew 25:23 I focus on the word SERVANT first. It didn't say, 'Well done good and faithful Christian', it said SERVANT! We must serve. And next, I focus on "Come and share in your master's happiness." I CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE WHAT SHARING IN GOD'S HAPPINESS MUST BE LIKE! I think I have experienced it, but I have an idea that I don't even know the beginning of it!

Let's be servants. Let's know that the Lord CAN BE TRUSTED. Let's TRUST. Let's know that He is working out things for our good, while all we need to do is SERVE. Let's serve Him. Let's serve others. Let us one day hear from the mouth of God, "I am SO proud of You!"




P.S. The name of the Philanthropy Project is (re)ACTION, if you are interested in learning more, don't hesitate to e-mail me. We working/serving to donate money to non-profit organizations in the name of Christ!