Giving Up Everything

"Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about, or to make trouble about."  --Hudson Taylor's Choice Sayings: A Compilation From His Writings and Addresses.  London, China Inland Mission, n.d., 52.

Seeking and Finding

A new school year has me up just as the sun is starting to shed its very first bits of light on our property.  I slip outside to do some power walking.  Power praying.  My heart rate goes up for the necessary 20 minutes.  One foot in front of the other.  Up hills, down hills.  It's just the morning sounds in the woods and my own sounds.  Breathing in, breathing out.  And with heart rate up, I raise my other heart up also.  All the worries, all the cares, all the heartache, all the questions.  I raise them up for those 20 minutes.  Praying, pleading, wrestling...breathing.  Just a daughter sharing her heart with her Father.  At the end of the 20 minutes, my steps slow and heart rate goes back down and cool down begins.  Likewise, my prayers wind down, and I close with this: "I roll it all over onto You, the One Who knows.  I exchange my burden for Yours because You say Your burden is light.  I exchange my yoke for Yours because You say Your yoke is light."  

I head to the porch swing, where my Bible and notebook are waiting.  And anticipation surges in me.  I have just poured out all my prayers to my Father, and now it's His turn to share with me.  This is the secret I have missed most of my life, but now that I've discovered it, I cling to it like breathing itself.

His Word says we can come to Him boldly.  And I do.  I tell Him that now I wait in anticipation for Him to share His Heart, His secrets with me.  I open my Bible and pull out my notebook.  I write down whatever it is that I'm seeking...a question, a concern, a plea for wisdom.  Seeking in all sincerity.  I write and then, with a blank page, I ask Him to please share with me whatever He wants to share.  And as James says, we are to EXPECT Him to answer when we ask Him for wisdom.  So, my notebook sits open in expectation...my little sign of faith, knowing He will surely answer.

And He does.  This is the mystery that many never seek long enough to find.  A quiet voice louder than words.  Verses that stand out and speak volumes to a spirit that is tied to His.  Comfort. Correction.  Direction.  Confirmation.  Wisdom.  Priceless bits of jewels from Heaven...something I'd never trade for anything on earth.

I leave the porch swing, with thankful heart swollen with the nectar of His love.  How do I thank a Father that cares enough to share living Words with me...simple, sinful me?


I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Proverbs 8:17 (ESV).