And so this week, I am back at my desk, no cookies in sight ( well there is a box of toffee sitting just out of reach that Bevy so graciously made and brought in yesterday) and back to focusing on Big Dream Ministries and the New Year. I have always thought there is great freedom in following hard after God and a very special freedom in leading a ministry that never moves unless we clearly sense a “Go” from the Good Shepherd. It really puts the future in His hands. Will the ministry grow or will it be no more? Will we be able to produce one more study or twenty or none? We don’t know.
But in this great freedom I confess that there is occasional anxiety. I want to know every curve, every fork, and every detour along the way. I want to know for sure where we are going and what it will be like when we get there. I want to know the future and sometimes can’t understand why every now and then God won’t pull the curtain back a little bit for me to see it. But then this Christmas I think in some ways He did that.
While I was reading the Christmas story for about the tenth time this month I was caught off guard with one verse. An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah while he was doing his priestly duties in the temple and informed the old man that he was going to have a son by his equally old wife. And then he said this…now pay attention to these words...
“And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17-18
Turn hearts… turn the disobedient…..prepare for the Lord. There it was. A clear summary of what we are trying to accomplish through our new study, “Be Amazing”. We want to turn the hearts of women back to their families, their children, their husbands…and turn them to an attitude of righteousness, of obedience. And the reason is a good one. Christ is coming soon. So we may be able to be a small tool that can prepare a people for His return.
So what would that look like practically? Well it would pretty much put an end to abortions, not because there would be no “unwanted babies”, there simply would not be babies that were not wanted. There would be marriage and in that environment children would be born…not a by-product of a one night stand or casual sex without marriage, but the child would be a welcomed member of society. A woman WOULD have control over her own body and she would choose to control it until there was a safe and loving family in which to bring a child.
There would be an enormous dent in pornography if women chose to keep their clothes on, to exhibit no behavior that would cause lust, to behave in ways that demanded and received respect. Sorry Hugh Hefner, you would have to take the bathrobe off and put on a suit and go get a job doing something other than using women for your own purposes. Teens would put sexting aside for perhaps higher goals other than exploiting their bodies, and in doing so may even gain more respect for themselves.
And perhaps home would cease being war zones or drop-off stations. There would actually be someone there creating a refuge, a calm place for not only love to grow but also character and integrity development. Perhaps there could be exceptional kindness and a greater value on wisdom and sensibility.
And perhaps children would not have gaping holes in their soul that are frantically trying to be filled with sex and drugs and alcohol. Perhaps they could look to their mother as the best example on how to live life wholly and successfully.
And perhaps on the day when that trumpet blows, there will be a huge army of women answering the call and leaving behind a nation that was blessed greatly by their very presence. Just perhaps.
The wise woman builds her house…..
Proverbs 14:1
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