The Little Things.

I have big dreams for myself and my husband, and I have asked God for a lot. I have no doubt that He will answer. He is answering prayer even when I don’t see immediate results. In the mean time, I have stopped telling Him how I think it should all pan out. (He is constantly throwing curve balls, and I am getting to the point where I kind of like it!) I say all of this to lead me into this point:

God has a crazy way of preparing us for "what's next".

For the last year I have been convicted about the WEIRDEST things. I doubt most people would even consider them something to be convicted about. However, every time I say to myself “That’s stupid. God doesn’t care about that!” I hear that still voice that says “Yes I do… you have asked Me for much, do you want it?” Simple things like clothes falling off the hangers in stores, even if I wasn’t the one who was there when they fell off. I feel obligated to fix them. Seriously. Every time I am browsing a rack and I see a tank top fall off it’s hanger, I try to go about my business, and within 30 seconds... I am re-hanging it. You are probably thinking “What’s the big deal about re-hanging clothes in a store? I do that too!” Well, in the past I would have just kept going, and not cared that it fell off. I have been semi-selfish, and believed that my time searching for deals in the clearance rack is more important then the people’s that are employed at the store... and I should know better. It's just something I deal with, ok?

Now, for all of the hesitant ones, and critics out there who are saying “Whoa, what kind of God do you serve? He has to BRIBE you to behave a certain way, so He will answer your prayer? I don’t want to serve a God like that.” I say to you… no. You are wrong. He is a Father, and like any father who wants good things for His children, He knows when discipline is necessary. God knows that there is a lot of stuff that needs to be “worked out” in my life so that I can be all that He has called me to be, and all that I have asked Him to be.

It’s about the little things. The everyday things. The things that we think are no big deal. God has been showing me that it’s not enough to do what is right for a season, just because we want immediate results. It takes time, and repetition, so that eventually our character is built. I can tell you that after a year of re-hanging clothes after they fall off the hangers- I don’t even bother waiting to decide if I should go back and fix them anymore. I just do it. Sometimes it takes less work to just do what is asked of you, then to negotiate, and lose.

From the moment I saw that little nugget, Jaden Smith, I could barely wait to get to the theatre to see the Karate Kid. It may be because I am so fascinated with the fact that he is Will Smith’s son, or that I heard he did all his own stunts (yep, I just said that) —but I begged Matt to go with me. I have never seen the original version of the Karate Kid (I am pretty sure it was released the year I was born… eek!), but everyone knows the old “wax on, wax off…” line, right? Anyways, there is one point in the movie when Mr.Han’s training involves picking a coat off the floor, hanging it up, taking it off the hanger, putting it on, throwing it on the floor, picking it up, hanging it on the rack, etc… over and over and over. The poor kid. I felt so frustrated for him, but as you watched him do it over and over, you knew that Mr. Han is preparing him for something bigger then he was realizing. The whole time “Dre” whines his way through it, repeatedly asking his teacher why he has to do the same pointless thing, over and over... but he kept going. He kept doing what was asked of him even when it was hard. After weeks of ignoring him every time he would ask when he would get to do REAL karate, Mr. Han walks over and begins to “fight”. Every move that he was practicing with his coat, was preparing him for a match, so that he could defend himself. Over the weeks of repetition he had become disciplined and trained. He was learning all the moves that he needed, and he didn’t even know it.

The Bible says that “If you are faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large things…” Luke 16:10.

I have learned to stop asking God for an explanation every time He asks me to do something. I have learned that I need to be faithful in the little things, because I have asked Him for much. I have learned that I need to be disciplined so that I can handle the things I have asked Him for. I have learned that part of getting what you ask for means doing what is asked of you.

Most of all, I have learned that to be disciplined is to be loved of God. He sees the beginning from the end, and His discipline is the way to life.