Out of Your Belly Shall Flow Rivers of Living Water!

Sometimes we're just sailing along in life....and whoosh....the skies are blue, the breeze is gentle and the waters calm....and then something comes along to change all that....Now, I'm not talking about the turbulent, tornadic water spouts that spring up out of nowhere.....It's not that we find our boat capsized and we're choking on life's onslaught.....No, it is just those times in life that we take a time out and ask for God's clarification for His further direction. "Lord, am I on course?"

I'm talking about those nagging rubs which happen along the way in life where we stop to ask, "God? Am I really doing what You have intended for my life? Is this it?" Added to all of this is the fact that I'll be entering my next "mile marker decade" this year, and it has given me pause to consider the time the Lord will allow me to fullfill on this earth and what He wants from me....What do I do with today? Lord, am I fulfilling what YOU want....or just what pleases me?

For those who've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I am not an "expository" writer.  I don't take scripture and dissect it into little teeny, tiny pieces parts to examine every jot and tittle.  That is just NOT my calling....and I will leave that to the experts!  (Whew!  Thank you very much!)

I'm just not one of those persons who delights in diagramming a sentence.  Oh my goodness!  Poor Mrs. Hufnagle - our seventh grade English teacher.....Having to teach dissection of the written human language to teenagers!  I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy!  I'm sure I would cause heart palpitations to the the most precise writers of the English language!  But, please pardon me while my participles dangle and my adverbs jump the proverbial grammatical curbs!  (I think this is why I enjoy blogging....No editorial red lines!)

In fact, I'm reminded of Erma Bombeck's writings.  I cut my teeth as a mother on the humor of "Erm".  She was THE reason I subscribed to our local newspaper....What did Erma have to tell me today that would help me to laugh my way through diapers, teething and toddling?  There was a quality to Erma's writing that I thorougly enjoyed...and so did her multitudes of readers....We KNEW her, because she was us!  She wrote in a way that shared the pithiness and poignancy of life with "Bombeckian humor" that was uniquely hers.  She came "into her own".

Whether it be literature or film, music or canvas...we know there are those "artists" who are uniquely their own.  When we see or hear their particular style, there is something that lights up within us that goes "Aha....that's ___________" and a smile eases its way into our hearts as a soothing, warm, gently scented oil or with a grandiose fortissimo!

Well back to my opening thought...I think we can find comfort in those times of self-introspection and evaluation.  I think the Lord causes these "rubs" as I call them, to help us to know more fully our calling and sense of direction to which He's called us....for if we don't know....Well, as they say, "If you don't know where you're going....You'll never get there."  And it is the desire of my heart to one day hear the Lord say, "Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your Lord."  And this has been one of those times....that I wanted to know that I know that I know that I know that I was "on track" and not missing the mark.

So it is that it has been just such a time....searching...asking....waiting for His answer.  Not agonizing...but waiting....And just as a summer breeze sweeps through the window to refresh our soul....sometimes almost unperceptible....the Lord brought His answer.
I was writing to a friend from church who'd prayed for me this past Sunday at the altar.  She specifically asked the Lord to reveal His answer within one week, and wrote yesterday to ask how I was doing....I replied that I was writing again after having not feeling well for about a month, and wrote that writing for me is as a composer would put to paper that which has been formulating in his mind and heart....perhaps not totally distinguishable, but in skeleton form, until the work begins...and that which seems elusive begins to evolve....melody and harmony in synch with one another....at times in a minor key...at times up an octave....dipping and curving....intertwining....until that which the composer had only at one point known needed to be expressed....even though perhaps not seeing the finished product at the time....took the step of faith to put pencil to paper and begin....one note at a time....until the piece slowed for its final ritardando....and final notes - whether sung as a solo....or in harmony with its musical companions.

I guess I realized in greater depth what a creative outlet writing really is for me...and what gives me the greatest sense of fulfillment is "writing from the gut"....coloring "outside the lines"....where the rawness of life meets the Glory of God...That place where God blows His Spirit into the dust of the earth and gives life and meaning the ashes of our lives....the miracles that are birthed out of the grit of a seeming void....that place where God creates....that place where we become His hands and His heart....His encouragement....His hope to someone who needs what He wants to give to them through us this day....because He knows they need a lifeline and He wants to use us to do it! 

I finished my email and clicked "send"....not fully realizing what the Lord had revealed to me...It wasn't until this morning that He brought His Word of confirmation...to make sure I really "got it".  (Oh...the long-suffering of the Lord!  His mercies are new every morning!)....And this morning it was that He wakened my sleep with this scripture from John 7:38 "....out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."  Some versions use the word belly to describe...the gut....the core of our innermost being.
There was the completion to His answer!  It was as if the Lord said, "Now, just in case you missed it (which I had!), I'm going to give you My Word to confirm what I revealed to you yesterday." 

Maybe you're content in life....and you're doing just fine.  But maybe you've found yourself asking the same question of late.  And so I encourage you today....What is it that flows out of your innermost being?  What is it that you love to do?  What is it that gives you joy when you do that particular task?  What is it that "describes" you?  That is what the Lord has given you to do at this particular time in your life. 

So often, I believe especially as women....we compare ourselves to others....But may I encourage your heart to just be you....just you?  Maybe you love to clean (which is TOTALLY beyond my comprehension!)....and you would be able to help someone who has special needs....Maybe the Lord has called you to pray and love on your grandchildren in a special way for this time in their life....Perhaps you could be a helper to a single mother....or a mother who has no family members to call upon to give her some "time off".....

Whatever this may be for you....even if you don't know....perhaps you want to start by just listing a couple items....and title it: "Things I Like to Do".  Ask God to take those gifts that He's given just to you and to multiply them for His glory.
You know, Jabez prayed a prayer like that in I Chronicles 4:10 "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!"  So God granted him what he requested."

So whatever your point in life, let's close in prayer together shall we.....trusting that as we come humbly before Him that He will hear and He will answer.

"Father, we come to You in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  And Lord, You see the gifts You have put within each one of us to bring glory to Your Name.  Lord, maybe we don't even see them right now, but You do.  Help us to know what You know fully well about who you made us to be.  As one snowflake is different from another, so have you made us.  Lord, our desire is to serve You.  We ask You Father to take these gifts and cause Your living water to flow out of us to others as You so desire.  Bless us indeed that You may bless others through us, that we may not cause anyone harm, but ever live to bring Glory to Your Name.  Amen."

Someone needs Him today...and He wants to use you to touch their lives and hearts for His Glory....You are the vessel He has chosen for such a time as this....for out of your belly shall flow rivers of His Living water.....
God bless you always~ 
Ever yours in Christ,
Crista
Numbers 6:24-26
CMSimmons52@aol.com