Monday, April 23, 2012
I Give Myself To You ...
OK, so I can't carry a tune and I am completely tone deaf when it comes to harmonizing on a song, but I do love to sing in church ... And there are some Sundays when I am probably singing to loud because I am desperately crying out to the LORD ... I am singing as children cling to my leg all vying for their perfect spot to the point of almost knocking me over and yet I just sing and pour it out ... I am needing that purging of my heart to God ... You see I have come to realize that the power in me to give myself away is all dependent on how much I allow his power to come through ... This PROCESS started about 7 years ago and yesterday in church I was blown away with how God can use HIS PEOPLE to bring him glory and spread his message of HOPE ...
The day we started our first adoption process it SEEMED like such a HUGE STEP ... It was a leap of faith like no other we had taken and we watched God move mountains and change our hearts ... It was my first real experience of GIVING MY LIFE AWAY ... It cracked a door open that I would never be able to shut again (even on the days I really want to) ... Then as most of you know another adoption journey came and changed the face of our daily life in a way we could never have known (and probably good we didn't) ... This journey brought lots of lessons about the Lord - both good and hard ... I thought well LORD you have really stretched me here and our family is on a unique journey with you ... And yet we found more strength from the LORD to journey again the road of adoption ... Now the cold hard facts were at this point we were completely ALL OUT THERE with the Father ... AS A FAMILY WE HAD GIVEN OUR LIVES AWAY ... Surely Lord, you could see our plates were full at home with 6 kids (not to mention hours spent volunteering at Amazima and starting 147 Million Orphans and the counseling of families thinking about adoption or the hundreds of emails) ... WWWHHHEEEEWWWW ... I had to be done because the fountain had run dry and I had given it all away ... I was giving it away daily, yet I watch God give me more so that I could give MORE AWAY ... It is the craziest realization that HE IS THE GIVER OF ALL and that giving it back is just what we are suppose to do ... I see that the more I am open to HIM and how he truly intended us to live here on this earth that my potential to impact the KINGDOM is endless ... I am only using what HE gives me and the more I AM OBEDIENT with his treasures then the more I am useful to HIS PURPOSE ... Yes, little ole me - small town girl from Smyrna, TN ... Wife to her high school sweetheart ... And mother to some really amazing kids !!!
This all washed over me as I cried out the to the LORD in church yesterday, "I GIVE MYSELF AWAY, I GIVE MYSELF AWAY." ... What a journey it is to GIVE AWAY ... Hard on so many days that I wanna run and hide ... Days when I wanna stick my head in the sand hoping some of it would just go away ... And then there are moments when the thought of missing it - missing the abundant blessing freightens me ... Those moments when you hear your husband (who is working on his sermon for church) ask his 7 year old daughter what is one of the biggest blessings in her life and she says, "BEING ADOPTED." It can simply paralyze you how important it is to give your life away ... How you can change the lives of others and yourself in a FOREVER ETERNITY kind of way ...
So if you are waiting on the sidelines afraid there isn't enough of you to give away or that you have nothing to give away then THINK AGAIN ... You have the MOST HIGH with in you and HIS power to impact others is endless so START GIVING IT AWAY !!!! Give it away to your family, your co-workers, widows at church, homeless down the street, starving children around the world, to people dying of curable diseases, to orphans, to the lost and lonely !!!! JUST START GIVING IT AWAY BECAUSE HE GAVE IT TO YOU FOR JUST THAT PURPOSE ...
Have a blessed week !!!
The day we started our first adoption process it SEEMED like such a HUGE STEP ... It was a leap of faith like no other we had taken and we watched God move mountains and change our hearts ... It was my first real experience of GIVING MY LIFE AWAY ... It cracked a door open that I would never be able to shut again (even on the days I really want to) ... Then as most of you know another adoption journey came and changed the face of our daily life in a way we could never have known (and probably good we didn't) ... This journey brought lots of lessons about the Lord - both good and hard ... I thought well LORD you have really stretched me here and our family is on a unique journey with you ... And yet we found more strength from the LORD to journey again the road of adoption ... Now the cold hard facts were at this point we were completely ALL OUT THERE with the Father ... AS A FAMILY WE HAD GIVEN OUR LIVES AWAY ... Surely Lord, you could see our plates were full at home with 6 kids (not to mention hours spent volunteering at Amazima and starting 147 Million Orphans and the counseling of families thinking about adoption or the hundreds of emails) ... WWWHHHEEEEWWWW ... I had to be done because the fountain had run dry and I had given it all away ... I was giving it away daily, yet I watch God give me more so that I could give MORE AWAY ... It is the craziest realization that HE IS THE GIVER OF ALL and that giving it back is just what we are suppose to do ... I see that the more I am open to HIM and how he truly intended us to live here on this earth that my potential to impact the KINGDOM is endless ... I am only using what HE gives me and the more I AM OBEDIENT with his treasures then the more I am useful to HIS PURPOSE ... Yes, little ole me - small town girl from Smyrna, TN ... Wife to her high school sweetheart ... And mother to some really amazing kids !!!
This all washed over me as I cried out the to the LORD in church yesterday, "I GIVE MYSELF AWAY, I GIVE MYSELF AWAY." ... What a journey it is to GIVE AWAY ... Hard on so many days that I wanna run and hide ... Days when I wanna stick my head in the sand hoping some of it would just go away ... And then there are moments when the thought of missing it - missing the abundant blessing freightens me ... Those moments when you hear your husband (who is working on his sermon for church) ask his 7 year old daughter what is one of the biggest blessings in her life and she says, "BEING ADOPTED." It can simply paralyze you how important it is to give your life away ... How you can change the lives of others and yourself in a FOREVER ETERNITY kind of way ...
So if you are waiting on the sidelines afraid there isn't enough of you to give away or that you have nothing to give away then THINK AGAIN ... You have the MOST HIGH with in you and HIS power to impact others is endless so START GIVING IT AWAY !!!! Give it away to your family, your co-workers, widows at church, homeless down the street, starving children around the world, to people dying of curable diseases, to orphans, to the lost and lonely !!!! JUST START GIVING IT AWAY BECAUSE HE GAVE IT TO YOU FOR JUST THAT PURPOSE ...
Have a blessed week !!!
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12 kind words.:
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing :)
Love this, Gwen! Have been there myself as well... thank you for blessing others so much with your transparency and your big ol' heart for Jesus :)
oxoxo,
Stefanie
Gwen, this post has "lyric" to it ~ I could sing it! :)) You have captured abiding so well here. Love the testimony of your Life!! He is worthy of it all! Keep "singin'" out to Him, girl, your Life's song is powerful and beautiful...and makes others want to sing along!!
I'm going to tuck this post away and share it with a group of adoptive moms who are desiring to keep going for giving it all away in Him...There's abundant life found in the giving away, isn't there?? Blessings!!
needed this today. Thanks for pouring out your heart.
So true and so well put. Thank you for sharing and challenging me.
I relate to this on so many levels!
Great post !
as I am s.t.r.u.g.g.l.i.n.g. through my son's transition.....thank you for the sweet reminder that He is there and He will carry us through so we can carry our son through his pain.
As always, you have an amazing way of sharing your heart! I'm so glad He's done an amazing work in your heart and you've truly given your life way TO HIM!
Filled to be emptied to be filled to be emptied....
YES! ONLY GOD!!!!!
Love this post so much...
what a journey!
Wow! Amazing words today. Thank you Gwen!
Chiming in with an AMEN, sista! I thought my life and heart was full until the Lord put adoption into our hearts and now we start this big journey to an expanded family. We are only just applying now, so a long way to go and much to learn and do. Thanks for the encouragement of your life and your blog posts. Keep them coming!
Rhonda
from Arkansas
Ahhh, I love this! Too many Christians are settling for small lives when they could "give it all away" and have the thrill of a lifetime. Keep preaching until every orphan has a home!