"Something Small, Something Miraculous"

One night, when Andrea & I were still dating & working together at Texas Roadhouse, I used my break time to go across the street to Borders. I wanted to encourage her & give her some kind of fun, zany or silly postcard. You see, one of her primary Love Languages (Check out the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman) was words of affirmation so I figured it would be cool if I could write something on a postcard & put it in her car so that when she got off it would surprise her. Brownie points, you know what I'm saying'?



Oh, The Glory!!!

So I found this card that I thought was super amazing. It had a picture of a huge slice of swiss cheese, but instead of round shaped holes in the cheese it was heart-shaped holes. Isn't that hecka amazing? Well, I thought so. I mean, she is like a cheese head. Okay, we're like cheese heads... We buy one of those big o' 2 pound bags of the 4-cheese mix (you know the 'Mexican-Mix'? it's heaven in bag!) and we finish it in like a week! Needless to say her & I both looooove cheese. Anyhoo, I bought this super awesome post card & on the back I wrote, "Two of my favorite things in the world, Cheese & Your Love..." and then I put some other encouraging words on it. I also drew some super amazing stick figures of me & her on the back so that I could demonstrate my spectacular art skills and whoooo her even more. Isn't that sweet? Well, I thought so... And so did she!

I put the card in her car without her knowing & then when she got off work she saw it sitting there on her seat. She felt so loved & encouraged. She immediately called me & encouraged me, telling me how thankful she was. I don't know if you realize, some nights working as a server at a restaurant could pull every once of joy & encouragement out of you if you let it... I mean, you could have ungrateful guests, spill drinks & give your best service possible with no tip left for you all on the same night... But honestly, I didn't realize how something so small would bring so much encouragement to her. She took that card placed it in her car where she could see it everyday (I think it was the drawings that did it, spectular art skills).



Still There To This Day...

Matter of fact, I could walk out to the car right now, over 2 years later, & see it there. The card is a reminder of love, thoughtfulness, encouragement, care & even healing. I didn't realize that to be thought-of, to have me go out of my way or use my break time to get something for her would cause Andrea to come into a deeper understanding of love, apprecition, significance, encouragement, hope & value. What I deemed as something small, something that would be fun & zany or something cute, she deemed as great value, greatly necessary & even miraculous. Miraculous, you ask? Yes, miraculous. That someone would choose to take time out of his day, take his thoughts off himself & intentionally make a sincere effort to display loving affection in a heart-felt & tangible way can move a seeming common act into the miraculous.

Many times we don't realize how God could use something small to bring about something miraculous. God was usuing me that night, using a silly picture & silly drawings to bring about a greater understanding of value, love, significance & worth. 'But it was a dumb post card,' you may think... Yea, but that night, that 'dumb post card' became an instrument for the divine love of God that overwhelmed Andrea's heart. Behind the dumb card was a man who was madly in love with a woman & behind the man was God, who was madly in love with them both! Now everytime Andrea looks at the card it is a reminder not only of my love for her, but the love of Jesus, who has overwhelmed me with His love for Andrea.

The miraculous takes place when the supernatural, or divine, invades our present reality & displays it's power.

When Moses stood before God I don't think he realized how much miraculous power his staff possessed. "This is just a staff," he may have thought. Yea, but the power of God working through Moses & that staff was nothing less than miraculous. What Moses deemed as something small God deemed as something miraculous. When Jesus told the disciples to feed the five thousand they said, "All we have are these 5 loves and 2 fish..." Some of us are saying, "All I have is this job, this education or lack of... All I have is $5 dollars or my summer vaction... All I have is influence with friends... All I have is my home or a little bit of time... All I have is this hug, smile, phone or postcard..." But what did Jesus do, he took what they had in their hands and used it to demonstrate the miraculous power of God. He took the little & multiplied it! He took something small & turned it into something miraculous!


"The Ville" kids & team at the Pumpkin Patch

When we started our Saturday kids outreach, The Ville, to reach out to children & families in our community I told the Lord, "You could have my Saturdays..." I was a little scared of the unknown, wasn't sure if people would receive us, wasn't sure how we would get funds, wasn't sure if others would commit to help, but God took my small step of faith & turned it into something miraculous. Children are being powerfully loved through our 10 person team & the church. Homevisits have began to happen where we spend quality time with the children & families, as well as pray with them and do Bible studies. Some of the boys who don't have fathers now have godly men who love them, are investing in their lives, are praying for them & are modeling the Father's love to them. 
 

Ummmm... yea, we're a little crazy...

Just last night we had a sleep over at the church and about 10 kids from The Ville came, it was so much fun! Their lives are truly being transformed by the love of God that is working through the team. But the awesome thing is, our lives are being transformed too. God is using these kids & families to do the miraculous in our hearts as well. What we saw as something small God has used to bring about something miraculous... And it is just begining!  

What do you have in your hand? What is the thing that you see as something small and God is saying I want to use that as something miraculous? Some of you are at your church saying, "God I don't have what the pastor has. I don't have what those leaders have." God has called you there for a reason, don't what about what others are offering, you give your small to God & let Him do His thing. It's time that we give our 'small things', surrender them to God & allow Him to use them for the miraculous. You never know how God wants to move in your family, marriage, community, school, circle of friends, job, neighborhood, church, nation & world. It starts with the small... Many times it is the small things that bring about the greatest transformations. The small plus God equals divine greatness! The small surrender to God equals divine mulitiplication! The small used by God equals divine transformation...