Back to Normal

We’ve had 12 feet of snow on the ground in the south this past week. Ok… we’ve had 8 inches that melted as soon as the clouds floated past the sun and it showed it’s warm face. It sure felt like 12 feet when you consider that we see snow like that once every ten years.

So we sat in our homes with warm blankets and we watched movies. We ate be bread and drank the milk that we’d… and when I say “we” I mean “WE… the people of the south” bought at the grocery store. We dressed our kids in warm coats and boots and we played in the snow. It was fun! I loved spending time with my family and neighbors and it was a sudden stop that most seemed to appreciate.

It’s just that today when I took my daughter to school and dropped her off I saw other kids getting out of the cars and  it was like God reminded me to pray for her friend who might not have had food since there was no school. No school, no school breakfast and no school lunch.

And as I started doing laundry and trying to get caught up on so many wet pairs of socks and sweatshirts and warm clothes that those people whose kids don’t have much may not have been exceptionally warm during all of that… fun.

I am not trying to put a damper on things. I LOVE all of it! I love the snow and the time off and the hot cocoa and the naps and… well, I just sometimes think that since the Lord has allowed a window to my soul to see the needs of those around me He just won’t let me forget.

He won’t let me forget that the school that’s located near our church and near the clothing ministry has about 200 families that are dealing with homelessness.

He won’t let me forget the refugee families that frequent our ministry that came to the U.S. with the literal clothing on their backs and that they came because of the HUNGER… to know Christ.  When asked how we could help them their first response was, “Teach our children about Jesus,” as they stood in empty apartments that they shared with other families.

Once God allows you the honor of standing with Him (though you can’t stand… it is on your knees that you learn to serve because you are too humbled and too burdened to serve without a tear in your eye) you begin to understand His word when it says, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them”Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” James 2: 15-16 Verses like that stay in your heart and they are at the forefront of you mind when you see those in need. You WANT to share Christ, but how will they hear you if they are cold or hungry… or both?

There’s a Christian author named Jen Hatmaker that wrote a book called Interrupted. It’s the story of her family’s life being interrupted by God as they picked up and moved their family to an inner-city area in Texas. God literally moved their lives to help those who were forgotten and forsaken. I read Hatmaker’s work when I felt God tugging at my own heart to start a clothing ministry and He whispered to me, “If she can do this, you can do this.”

I suppose it’s not to that scale, but in many ways I feel that my own life has been interrupted. I take God at His word more these days because I can not deny the ways that He has taken it and used it to show me that He’s serious! He won’t let my heart and mind go too far from what I have experienced and seen here in my own city and most of it not even 20 minutes from my home.

So while the remnants of the snow continues to melt and I try to get my home in order I am excited to get back to normal! I want to see what God has in store as I have the opportunity to meet Him face to face in the lives of those that we can touch. I can’t wait to see how He provides for specific needs. I am eager to hear my heart beat hard as He shows me those that He has specific plans for and as He whispers what He’d like for us to do to fulfill those plans. I pray that hearts and lives will be forever changed and that this week is all to His praise and glory!