Insignificant or Important?

Wow! So much has happened since I last wrote a blog post! I got married to the Love of my life, he whisked me off to Spain for an amazing honeymoon, and now we are settling into our daily routines together. . . yes, we've been pretty busy! But in the business of life, we have made time to seek God as a couple, praying together and studying God's Word. I'd like to share with you something God laid on my heart the other day. . .

I can't take all the credit for this blog post. Some of the inspiration came from a sermon I was listening to by Dr. Tom Farrell, but God took the seed planted by his message and has been developing it in my heart.

There are many things in life we deem important and many things we pass off as insignificant. It is amazing how God repeatedly used seemingly insignificant things in a very important way! I have listed several examples from Scripture of this very truth!

1. The Mustard Seed
Matthew 17:20 " And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
While some seeds have unique shapes, colors, patters, or sizes, the mustard seed is not one of those! Ranging in size from 1-2mm in diameter, you would probably not even see it if it was lying in front of you. Yet, God chose to use this plain, little seed to make a word picture for us. He said that if we have as much faith as a mustard seed, we could move mountains! So, does God see this small seed as insignificant or important? Important!

2. A Staff
Exodus 7:8-10 "And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent."

Here we have a simple rod. It was probably not made out of any precious wood, for its purpose was to aid men as they walked. To us, it may not appear to be anything of value, yet God used this rod to show His power before Pharoah's entire court! Insignificant or important? Important!

3. A Scarlet Cord

Joshua 2:21 "And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window."

Joshua 6:25 "And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."

In this story, God chose a scarlet cord to picture His greatest gift to man, salvation! By Rehab hanging that cord from her window, she saved her entire family! Insignificant or important? Important!

I could go on to list the stones David used to slay Goliath, the widow's mite, the five loaves and two fishes of the little boy, and so many more! Or what about not only when God has used "insignificant" things, but when He has used people we might consider insignificant like Esther, Zaccheus, or even Jesus' mother Mary ??

In each case the item or person, in and of itself, was not important. But there is something in common that made each important and that is Jesus Christ! We are all important to God. If we let Him, He will show us He desires to use us in such an important way! You may wonder why God chooses to use 'insignificant' things and people.  He does it so that when the glory is received for what is accomplished, there is no choice but to recognize that it came directly from Him! 

I know this was a lengthy post, but if it encourages one person, it's worth it! So next time you are wondering if you are important, if anything you do matters, remember that you are important to God! What other people think does not matter! Yield your life to Him, and though you may not be seen of men, God will use you in a way you could never have imagined!

So what are you. . . insignificant or important??

All for His glory,

Brettnay Brazzell

Make up your mind

Ok, so it's been a while.

Yes, it's been over a month, and I apologize! I got married to the love of my life on July 12th so cut me a little slack. In case you don't believe me, here is a picture.

Wow she's beautiful!...Now that you believe me, we can get on to the topic of choice.

Make up your mind. People in today's world are indecisive. We all are this way from time to time. My wife asks me what I want to eat and my answer is most always "I don't know". The are some times where it's not a big deal to not know, and there are other times where you need to know. Is it a big deal whether or not I know what I want to eat? Of course not! But there are times where it's important to know what you want.

I took the picture on the left a few days ago while coming home from work. It actually was the inspiration for my article. The top no parking sign is always there, but the bottom temporary sign obviously isn't. So is it temporary or not? Someone should make up their mind.

We all have to make choices in life. Some minor, some major, but all are choices. God created us with the ability to choose things for ourselves. We have to make up our minds about certain things. Adam had an option to choose to sin with Eve or follow God. Abraham had the option to choose whether or not to sacrifice his son. Lot had a choice of which field he would take. We know what results were wrought because of their choices. Listen to what Joshua said in Joshua 24:15

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord , choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Do you think it was an easy choice for him to go against the crowd and pick a side? He could have just not made a choice right? Wrong! He had to choose to either follow God or not. God doesn't leave room for a "maybe" answer. You're in or out and there's no middle ground. So why as Christians do we think we can straddle the fence between worldliness and godliness?

We all know people who have left church recently. Teens who decide that they don't want to "play church" anymore, adults who don't have time, families that say they spend Sundays "as a family" rather than attending. Why? Because they finally chose a side.

The barrier between sides is more like a gate than a fence. It's always an option to go from one side to the other. There's a gate and you can either cross the gate and leave it open behind you, or you can close the gate and give the key to Christ to hold. If you leave the gate open behind you, then someday you'll cross back over. If you lock it but don't give the key to Christ, then you'll unlock it someday. But if you give it to Christ then you'll have to steal it back to cross back over.

Make up your mind. Where do you stand? Are you leaving the gate open just in case you want to indulge yourself? Are you holding on to the key to that one thing you won't give to Christ? Or have you given Christ your all?

I don't pretend that I've given everything to Christ. I would like to, but every day he shows me a key I still have in my pocket. Search yourself. Ask Christ to search you for keys you haven't given him. Then chose you this day whom you will serve.

Married but Lonely

   I can hardly believe it; Simeon and I are 3 weeks away from our wedding day! We are so excited not only about that special day, but also about the days and years to follow as we live our life as a married couple!

   The pastor that is performing our ceremony lives 8 hours away, so marriage counseling has been a little different for us. Pastor Brown has sent Sim and I a total of four books. We were to read them, discuss them together, and then write him and let him know what we learned from each book. So, we have spent the past few months reading through these books together and gleaning wisdom from couples who have gained a lot of  life and marriage experience. I know that I personally have learned many things from these books!

   One of the books we read was about communication. Something in the very beginning of the book caught my interests. The author wrote about how people often experience loneliness in marriage. Now he was not referring to couples who were unequally yoked, distant, or not as in love as they once were. He was talking about couples who were Christians and were deeply in love! My immediate thought was, how on earth could I be lonely when I have a wonderful marriage to my very best friend?! That just didn't make sense to me! The author went on to explain what he meant by that statement. Every human being is created with a void inside them, and we all have a desire to have that void filled. We seek for true love, total acceptance, and a relationship that will be our rock through all the up's and down's of life. Most people, myself included, would first think that this is found in a spouse. While you can find all of those things in your life's mate, they will never be able to fill that void in your heart. God didn't create that void in a way that could be filled by a person. The only one who is able to fill that void in your heart is God Himself! So yes, if God does not have his rightful place in your life, and if you are trying to have that void filled by your spouse, you will face that loneliness!

   Simeon is above and beyond anything I could've dreamed for myself! I love him with all of my heart, and I know he is the man God created me for. He is my true love and my rock, yet he cannot fill the void in my heart. We can have a heavenly marriage, but God has to be my first love! Only then will everything else fall into place!

    Now I know some of you are probably thinking, why is she writing about marriage when she hasn't even experience it yet? And to be honest, you are right! But I do know from other areas of life, that we all must put Christ first! He must be the one to fill the void in our hearts! Not a spouse, money, things, family, friends, etc. This principle can be applied to all areas of our lives!

   So friends, as Sim and I are beginning to enter into this new stage of life, please pray that we will always keep Christ first! And I challenge you to do the same! We need never be lonely when we have such a wonderful God and Savior! Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed." God promises He will always be there for us! What a precious promise!

All for His Glory,

Brettnay