Ravens and a Widow

Well.....I was doing my devotion this morning and came upon the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1-24. It really struck me how God loves to use the most impossible ways to show His Sovereignty. In this story, God tells Elijah that there is going to be a drought for the next few years and that he needs to go tell mean ol' King Ahab that news. (Ch. 16 told us that King Ahab was the most evil king so far...) So, Elijah tells Ahab the bad news and then the Lord tells him he better run and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. Then he tells Elijah that he will be able to drink from the brook and that the ravens will bring him food. I don't know about you, but I would have a hard time believing that some bird was going to be responsible for FEEDING me! But, Elijah did what the Lord told him, and sure enough, every morning and night RAVENS brought him bread and meat. Wow. What you might not know is that ravens are notorious for not even caring for their own young! So, if they won't even worry about feeding their own babies, it's pretty remarkable that they would bring food to this strange guy twice a day for 3 years, huh?

Now, if that is not enough to show God's absolute Sovereignty, he tells Elijah to go from the Ravine to Zarephath where a WIDOW will provide him with food. First the ravens, now a widow. Back then the widows were the poorest people around and would be the first to run out of food during a famine. But, once again, Elijah trusted the Lord and made the 90 MILE trek to find this widow that was apparently going to feed him. Don't you know that Elijah must've been thinking "Lord, can't you find me a widow that is like 5 miles away.....90? That'll take me FOREVER!" Well, that's what I would've been thinking anyways! So he finds this widow and asks her to bring him a drink which she does. Then he asks her for some bread and she tells him that all she has left is a tiny bit of olive oil and a handful of flour, and that, in fact, she was going to make that into bread for her and her son as their last meal because then they would surely die from starvation. Well, Elijah tells her to not be afraid and to go ahead and make the bread for him, her son, and herself, and that the Lord would never let the flour or olive oil run out until the drought ended. So, the widow does what he asks. Verse 12 shows that the widow did believe in his God. Now that took some faith on the widow's part, huh? To give the rest of what she has to some strange man........But, sure enough, they never ran out of food. God did provide!

Ch. 17 ends with the widow's son dying (not from starvation, but it doesn't say why), and Elijah prays over the boy PERSISTENTLY and he is actually raised from the dead. This happens to be the first recorded incident in Scripture of one being raised from the dead. Wow.

So, isn't that whole story truly remarkable? I truly pray that God will give me the faith of Elijah and that widow. It really shows me just how shallow my own faith is. And I just love how God uses two of the most improbable sources to take care of Elijah during the drought/famine: RAVENS and a WIDOW. Now that, my friends, shows God's Absolute Sovereignty.

Okay, now my real 1st post!

Wow......Never thought I'd be in the "world of blogging"..........But, I'm actually pretty excited about it! I've been thinking for awhile about the Jerry Maguire movie and how he comes out with his infamous "mission statement". I've decided that I need my own mission statement!

Matthew 5:16 says "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your God in Heaven." Wow. When you stop and think about that verse it is humbling to know that your actions, words, deeds, etc., might be what influences a person to accept Christ or not. I am working really hard on remembering that verse throughout my daily activities. The funny thing is, it is easier to "let my light shine" around everybody but my own family! And by "my family" I mean my four kiddos and my husband. Why is it so much easier to be kind, compassionate, loving, patient, etc., with everybody but those you are closest to? God has been kind of letting me know lately that they are exactly the ones I need to be showing God's love to!

So, I am working on that. However, I fail just about on a daily basis. For example, last week I got a call from the playground "duty monitor" at my 7-yr.-old's school. Luckily, she is a friend of mine, or this call would've been even more horrifying. Seems as if my 7-yr-old, Maddox, (he is the youngest of three brothers and also has a sister 19 mos. younger than him) has been involved in some "bullying" incidents. Now this is not the first time I have had to deal with him this year on this issue. Unfortunately he has been kind of "mean" to a really good friend of mine's son. I don't know if it is better or worse for it to be one of my FRIEND'S son. To make a long story short, I told my husband that he was going to have to deal with this because I was so angry and knew I wouldn't handle the situation appropriately. So my husband told me to put him in his room when he got home from school and he would deal with it. Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, I'm not really sure what happened to me. Apparently, the devil invaded my body, and the minute my son walked in the door all happy and smiley (with his front big tooth missing, no less), I lost it. He asked me if he could go play at his friend's house and I responded with "are you kidding me? Do you want to tell me what happened at school?" He really had no clue what I was talking about.......but about 20 minutes later, after hearing me RANT AND RAVE at him, he was in tears, and my 13 yr. old informed me I had probably scarred him for life. I won't go into all of the details, but why did I have to act like that? I knew that would happen and had even made precautions against it, but unfortunately there I was...screaming and acting like a mad woman......certainly not "letting my light shine" to my gap-toothed little 7-yr-old. My brother had told me recently that he thought his life verse was probably Rom. 7:15 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." So, there you have it, I was doing exactly what I did not want to do.

And now I have Dr. Phil in my head saying "it will take a 1000 'atta-boys' to make up for that one screaming incident". So, anyways, I guess my point is that Matt. 5:16 is what I would like my mission statement to be, but I am just a sinful human and Rom. 7:15 is probably more like it!

My First Blog Entry

This is my first entry.