I got to hold a mustard seed the other day. I have always had the opportunity to hold a mustard seed considering I have the small McCormick jar sitting among my other spices right there in my pantry door. But the pastor had us hold the tiny seed in the palm of our hands to remind us that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.
Seems impossible. Which is why Jesus' very next statement was, "Nothing is impossible."
Tempted to dismiss this cute illustration on faith I was gently reminded from that quiet inner voice that if I seek God I will find Him. So after a couple moments of seeking I actually stumbled upon, (more like the Holy Spirit led me to) Luke 13:18 and 19. Jesus once again uses the mustard seed to clarify some matters. Only this time He was not talking about faith, we was talking about how the Kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed planted in a garden. The mustard seed grows and becomes a tree and the birds find shelter among its branches. Now wait for it...Jesus also had previously spoken in a parable about seeds that a Farmer scattered across his field. He goes on to tell us that unfortunately some of that seed fell among the hard path to be snatched up by birds, while other seeds fell on rocky soil and began to grow but soon withered because it didn't receive enough hydration. Still other seed fell among thorns that choked the tender blades. Then there was the seed that fell among fertile soil. This seed produced a crop one hundred times as much as had been planted. Jesus explains that the hard path represents those who hear God's message but allow the Devil to come and steal it away preventing them from believing and being saved. The rocky soil are those who hear the message, and with joy, but like young plants their roots don't go very deep and they will believe for awhile until the hot winds of testing blow and they wither. Then there are those who hear and accept the message but all too quickly the cares, riches, and pleasures of life crowd out the message. And so the seed never grows into maturity. The good soil represents honest, good-hearted people who hear God's message, cling to it, and steadily produce a huge harvest.
Jesus uses a seed to talk about three eternal matters...God's Kingdom is a seed, God's Word is a seed, and Faith can be as small as a seed. Let's reverse these matters. If we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can at least take that seed of Faith and plant it. Once we are planted we can choose to hear God's message and start growing or we can let Satan, life's tests, and the cares of the world to snatch our faith right up. In order to become firmly rooted we must hear God's message and BELIEVE it. Once we understand that God's Word is one with God then we cling to and start claiming it as truth lived out in our maturing lives. Jesus said we will never have to thrist again when we receive his Word because He alone is the nurturer of our soul's garden. His Word waters our souls and we grow. Then comes the tests in life that try to bend and break our faith. But if we hold onto the Word during those tests for dear life we are that much stronger after the storms. What many good-hearted people may not know is that we actually have the AUTHORITY to stop in themiddle of the storm and receive God's grace in Jesus' name. We have the authority through God's Word to move our mountains. It is not by obeying the law but rather by our actions of LIVING OUT our faith in God's Word. When we take what we read with our eyes and act it out with all of our heart, soul, and mind we have the power through the Holy Spirit to say to a mountian or mulberry tree or an infant in the NICU who is struggling to breathe on His own and the life support is being taken off, to say "In the name of Jesus I command you by the power of God's Word and with my Faith, even as small as a mustard seed to breathe!" And when the Holy Spirit breathes his Word into the tiny life he will live because the seed of his Kingdom will grow and a harvest will be produced a hundred times over like I've never seen before!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A $2.50 Ball
It was one of those balls at Wal-Mart that you have to like hit up and over the cage that they reside in. It took a couple attempts to hit it up and over the metal but once the blue and white swirls came down and took a couple freedom bounces, Tracen's eyes widened with glee. And then I didn't see his cute little face again until I had to pry it out of his arms to pay for it.
This morning was beautiful. So I decided to ignore the laundry and the crumbs on the counter and the syrup from the pancakes that was dripping off the high-chair and get some shorts on to play with all four boys in the backyard. Several hours before my decision was made to enjoy the fellowship of my children outdoors, I was inside my bedroom among the darkness of the night telling God a piece of my mind. And since He knows the number of frizzy hairs on my head then I figured He also knew how big those tears were that were falling before the sun showed up.
The Pastor told us we need to give God our good side AND our bad side. So, I obeyed the Pastor. I yelled, or some might call it "cry out" but I yelled at God for being so stinkin good at playing hide-and-go-seek. I told Him that He is too good at the hiding and I'm not that great at seeking...Or at least that was the way I felt. I told Him that when I play the game with my boys I try not to hide where it takes them forever to find me because I get the most pleasure in the part where they find me. (Mainly because I like to scare them half-to-death, but that is irrelevant.) And I have to be honest, it felt good. And by the time I was done releasing my anger toward the One who is thankfully S-L-O-W to anger, the sun was rising and it was as if God was smiling into the darkness of the fading night. So that is when I decided to embrace the warmth of the day and play. Sometimes when life is really hard and complicated...Just play.
And that is what I did. I took my four blessings out to enjoy the sun...The Son who is right there waiting with us to make it through another trial. We played with that Ball we got from Wal-Mart for hours. We found new ways to play with a $2.50 ball. And I learned that day that when life is complicated it is the simple things that remind us what really matters the most.
Thank-you Father for that Ball and for your Son.
This morning was beautiful. So I decided to ignore the laundry and the crumbs on the counter and the syrup from the pancakes that was dripping off the high-chair and get some shorts on to play with all four boys in the backyard. Several hours before my decision was made to enjoy the fellowship of my children outdoors, I was inside my bedroom among the darkness of the night telling God a piece of my mind. And since He knows the number of frizzy hairs on my head then I figured He also knew how big those tears were that were falling before the sun showed up.
The Pastor told us we need to give God our good side AND our bad side. So, I obeyed the Pastor. I yelled, or some might call it "cry out" but I yelled at God for being so stinkin good at playing hide-and-go-seek. I told Him that He is too good at the hiding and I'm not that great at seeking...Or at least that was the way I felt. I told Him that when I play the game with my boys I try not to hide where it takes them forever to find me because I get the most pleasure in the part where they find me. (Mainly because I like to scare them half-to-death, but that is irrelevant.) And I have to be honest, it felt good. And by the time I was done releasing my anger toward the One who is thankfully S-L-O-W to anger, the sun was rising and it was as if God was smiling into the darkness of the fading night. So that is when I decided to embrace the warmth of the day and play. Sometimes when life is really hard and complicated...Just play.
And that is what I did. I took my four blessings out to enjoy the sun...The Son who is right there waiting with us to make it through another trial. We played with that Ball we got from Wal-Mart for hours. We found new ways to play with a $2.50 ball. And I learned that day that when life is complicated it is the simple things that remind us what really matters the most.
Thank-you Father for that Ball and for your Son.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Disclaimer
Disclaimer: A refusal to accept responsibility.
Why is my very first blog post entitled disclaimer?
I'll tell you.
Number one: I refuse to accept any responsibility when it comes to staying up-t0-date on this blog. I have no intentions of staying current and because I am being up front about this I am free to take on yet another project in my already crazy busy life with no time crunch.
Number two: Ask my best friend, Amber Komdeur...I am a writing freak. I write everything down. I don't just have a prayer journal, a journal for each of my children, a journal about my marriage, a journal about any thoughts or ideas I have, a journal of dreams, a journal about topics that concern me...But I also write down anything and everything that I might want to remember. And one thing that I like to remember are words. You would think nearly thirty years of speaking English would provide a plethora of intelligent words flowing from my mouth but that is definitely not the case for Christine Martinson. Ready for me to expose my first weakness? My tongue. Not only do I have an embarrassingly insufficient supply of vocabulary stored in my brain but what vocabulary I do have I too often use in the wrong way or at the wrong time. BTW this feels really good getting this out. Maybe I will blog a lot. But I don't have to because I have that disclaimer. Writing is a release for me. As I am sure it is for many of you bloggers out there. But honestly, I don't care if zero people read this or a million people. I'm not writing this for you. It's for me, my family if they want to know what their wife and mother is thinking, and God. I communicate with God through written words almost as often as the spoken word. I don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing. You tell me. Oh, that is another thing about me. I am very open to "constructive criticism" as long as your goal is to help me. So by all means put me in my place if you need to. But just say something nice afterwards. You know the sandwich method? Nice slice, critical slice, topped with a nice slice again. That seems to go well when I give people a piece of my mind. Which here we go again...Is another weakness of mine. Honestly people, I'm doing this whole thing cause I want to be real. No masks, no hats, just me. If I annoy you...Don't read it! It's a free country. At least for a little bit longer. Can I say that?
So in conclusion for tonight...My wonderful husband is at Wal-mart getting last minute items for Kyler's sixth birthday tomorrow. Kyler's love language is time, physical affection, gifts, words of encouragement, holy mol
ey almost all of them! Anyways we have a frame of Kindergarten wrapped with a "Happy Birthday" banner sitting alone on the counter for him to wake up to. Then we will have a jelly filled doughnut with a number 6 candle on it for breakfast. He will then give us a big hug and say "I love you" six times in honor of his birthday. Then throughout HIS day as he keeps reminding us, we will give him 6 little gifts. And I mean little. Like a whoopee cushion, a pack of gum, an action figure, a bouncy ball. Just to keep the excitement going until we end the day with a family get-together with a taco bar and cake and ice cream. Then the older boys will go to VBS at our wonderful neighbor church. And that will be the end of his sixth birthday which ended up being pretty significant with the grand-parents sending him and his older brother to day camp. Which brings me to what I am thankful for tonight...Supportive, loving, nurturing family.
In my blogs there will be me being me. My prayer is that for anyone who takes time out of their own crazy busy life that they will be encouraged knowing I am a normal Christian woman who struggles too, but I am also in this race to win and I hope you are too.
God says in his living Book, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10) Let's receive this gift of life and live it to its fullest people. And I don't mean go and get drunk all the time. I'll save that for another day.
Why is my very first blog post entitled disclaimer?
I'll tell you.
Number one: I refuse to accept any responsibility when it comes to staying up-t0-date on this blog. I have no intentions of staying current and because I am being up front about this I am free to take on yet another project in my already crazy busy life with no time crunch.
Number two: Ask my best friend, Amber Komdeur...I am a writing freak. I write everything down. I don't just have a prayer journal, a journal for each of my children, a journal about my marriage, a journal about any thoughts or ideas I have, a journal of dreams, a journal about topics that concern me...But I also write down anything and everything that I might want to remember. And one thing that I like to remember are words. You would think nearly thirty years of speaking English would provide a plethora of intelligent words flowing from my mouth but that is definitely not the case for Christine Martinson. Ready for me to expose my first weakness? My tongue. Not only do I have an embarrassingly insufficient supply of vocabulary stored in my brain but what vocabulary I do have I too often use in the wrong way or at the wrong time. BTW this feels really good getting this out. Maybe I will blog a lot. But I don't have to because I have that disclaimer. Writing is a release for me. As I am sure it is for many of you bloggers out there. But honestly, I don't care if zero people read this or a million people. I'm not writing this for you. It's for me, my family if they want to know what their wife and mother is thinking, and God. I communicate with God through written words almost as often as the spoken word. I don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing. You tell me. Oh, that is another thing about me. I am very open to "constructive criticism" as long as your goal is to help me. So by all means put me in my place if you need to. But just say something nice afterwards. You know the sandwich method? Nice slice, critical slice, topped with a nice slice again. That seems to go well when I give people a piece of my mind. Which here we go again...Is another weakness of mine. Honestly people, I'm doing this whole thing cause I want to be real. No masks, no hats, just me. If I annoy you...Don't read it! It's a free country. At least for a little bit longer. Can I say that?
So in conclusion for tonight...My wonderful husband is at Wal-mart getting last minute items for Kyler's sixth birthday tomorrow. Kyler's love language is time, physical affection, gifts, words of encouragement, holy mol
ey almost all of them! Anyways we have a frame of Kindergarten wrapped with a "Happy Birthday" banner sitting alone on the counter for him to wake up to. Then we will have a jelly filled doughnut with a number 6 candle on it for breakfast. He will then give us a big hug and say "I love you" six times in honor of his birthday. Then throughout HIS day as he keeps reminding us, we will give him 6 little gifts. And I mean little. Like a whoopee cushion, a pack of gum, an action figure, a bouncy ball. Just to keep the excitement going until we end the day with a family get-together with a taco bar and cake and ice cream. Then the older boys will go to VBS at our wonderful neighbor church. And that will be the end of his sixth birthday which ended up being pretty significant with the grand-parents sending him and his older brother to day camp. Which brings me to what I am thankful for tonight...Supportive, loving, nurturing family.In my blogs there will be me being me. My prayer is that for anyone who takes time out of their own crazy busy life that they will be encouraged knowing I am a normal Christian woman who struggles too, but I am also in this race to win and I hope you are too.
God says in his living Book, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10) Let's receive this gift of life and live it to its fullest people. And I don't mean go and get drunk all the time. I'll save that for another day.
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