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Insight
(Dragonfly
Ministries
President, Mary Hamrick)
August
2005
It’s
been quite a while since I’ve been awakened during the night by a
whisper from God. Recently, I woke up at 3 a.m. with a 6-word
phrase on my heart and I knew that I should write it down. Though
the thought or teaching wasn’t new to me, I have learned that when God
speaks, I need to remember what He has spoken, word for word. The
phrase He spoke to me … “There are blessings in God’s way”, which means
(There are blessings in doing things God's way) and when we do things
“as unto the Lord”, our lives will be blessed.
The next morning as I awoke, I thought about these six words and
wondered what the Lord was telling me. Sometimes He gives me
messages for myself and sometimes to apply to other circumstances.
About that time, the phone rang and it was a precious woman from our
church calling to remind me to take a salad to the church to be
delivered to a shut-in that day.
My week had been extremely busy with a 40 hours workweek, activities 5
out of 5 nights, and the usual mom-chores. In anticipation of
having a restful Saturday morning, I had taken a bagged salad to the
church on Friday night and stuck it in the refrigerator. All I
wanted to do was meet the need with as little effort as possible and
move on to the next task on my to-do list which, for this particular
Saturday morning, was a very full day. We had opening day of
youth baseball, a 4-H bake sale, a 4-H rabbit club activity, and a
community Girl Scout fundraiser. So you see, a bag salad had, at
the time, seemed sufficient.
But as I hung up the phone, I was reminded of those six words.
“There are blessings in God’s way”, and a verse immediately came to
mind. I Peter 4:11-12, “If anyone ministers, let him do it as
with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be
glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the
dominion forever and ever.” I have strived to always do my best
at what I’ve committed to do because of this verse, knowing that in
expressing my love to others, I was also loving Jesus. Suddenly,
I was ashamed of my time-cutting effort of the bag salad. How
embarrassed I would be to serve that salad to guests in my home, only
the bare minimum ingredients of lettuce and chopped carrots … no
freshly chopped vegetables, no salad dressing, just dry lettuce and
carrots.
So I did what I knew had to be done. With only an hour to spare
before the salad would be picked up for delivery, I raced to the store
and bought fresh vegetables and a bottle of salad dressing, and then I
raced to the church to assemble a salad that would be acceptable and
that would please my Lord.
Can a word from God change a life? Absolutely. Especially
when applied.
Daily we face decisions – some even difficult – and it’s easy to make a
quick decision. It’s not always convenient to do the right thing,
the right way. As a matter of fact, quick fixes are so easy to
come by these days – everything is so handy, so available – even salad
in a bag.
But for me, doing all things as though I will present them to my Lord
and King has certainly changed my motivation in how things are carried
out. As I go through my days, this six word phrase rests in my
heart and when I am tempted to cut corners or ignore a need, I hear the
whispers of God again, telling me to do ALL things as though I am doing
them for Him, for in the spiritual realm, all things are done for Him.
Whether it’s your household chores, your job, raising your children,
having your quiet time or serving in your church, we should always
strive to give it our best efforts, as though we are serving our Lord,
because,
“there are blessings in
God’s
way.”
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