"Our Daily Bread". Today, February 25th. "Let Your Hair Down". Read it!! Devotions like these are the kind that get me all crazy excited about our God, who we can be REAL with! It seems a bit odd though that it is so much easier to be "real" with the Creator of the universe, the One who knows it all anyway, the One who one day we will stand before in judgement, than it is to be "real" with the guy next door or even someone in the group we hang with.
This devotion gives an example of a gal who did not hold back, who was oh so very real, despite the fact she was risking her reputation. Mary was not worried about what other people were thinking at that very moment. Mary was not worried about the fact that it was not custom to let your hair down and the risk it might involve. Mary was worried about one thing. Giving herself freely to Jesus and expressing her love to Him in the only way she knew how at that very moment in time. She gave up what might have been her life saving's as well. Now that I've got to say is some sacrificial and spontaneous worship that I'm wondering just what that might feel like. Pretty stinkin' awesome I am sure!
For me, it also makes me wonder why then, we can't just be "real" in our everyday lives to the people around us we are trying to witness to and disciple. We try so hard to be perfect and because we are not even close, we tend to back off for risk that people might criticize OR even worse, they might think this "Jesus talk" is just that .... a bunch of nonsense. Yes, there are people who may very well do just that BUT the beauty of it all is that it doesn't really matter. Jesus IS perfection and if you have received Him as Lord and have Him in your heart, you don't have to walk around in shame feeling as if you are a failure or have failed someone else. Jesus wants us to be "real". He doesn't want us to hide our flaws because it is only when we admit to our weaknesses, that we will in turn find true Strength!
I'll be the first to admit I struggle with this daily. Who wants to go around telling people all the things you stink at or things that may very well be hard to admit to and talk about. I do know that over the last year that God has been preparing me for this adoption, I have had to admit my faults, my weaknesses, the "ugly" stuff from my past BUT I can tell you that every time I tell it to yet another person, it makes me feel that much better. For me, I get more out of hearing the Truth from someone who has "lived" it. From someone who has fallen short and then been lifted back up by the grace of God. From someone who then goes on to profess it! So, let's be like Mary and let our hair down! Don't hold back! Instead of worrying about what "we" have done, let's tell people about what Jesus has already done and will continue to do!
As for the adoption process, I found out that my Dossier has been in Ethiopia since January 27th! Praise God! I anxiously go to my mailbox daily in hopes of receiving that letter from the USCIS saying I have been cleared - still have yet to receive it. I also anxiously look at my phone every time it rings in hopes that it will be my agency saying they have my referral - my match - my LyLah! Still have yet to receive that, either.
Praise God for who He is and what He has done - Praise God that we can be real, knowing He is gonna love us anyway - Praise God for the example of Mary - Praise God for Jesus!
Pray for the church, for those who are in Haiti right now, that they would be the hands and feet of Jesus and for His protection over them - Pray that we would be like Mary, and not hold back when we are witnessing to and discipling those God brings across our paths - Pray that I would be cleared by the USCIS and that my referral would come in the very near future - Pray for my sweet baby girl, that God would protect her and strengthen her and love on her every day that I am apart from her!
"Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance." John 12:3
Love-
amy
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