Show up
I like to read it’s something my
parents instilled in me at a young age. Bible, comics, novels, graphic
novels all kinds of things. I picked up a book at CVS earlier this year
not realizing how much I would need it in the coming months. But I had a
40% off coupon and had been wanting to read it for a while. It’s okay not
to be okay by Sheila Walsh. Sometimes it’s a book deemed more for women
but men and women both can learn from it. Recently I found something in
it that hit me in a unique way. For about 11 years I’ve been doing this
Bible study blog thing in one form or another. Starting with meeting
people at Denny’s at midnight and changing to something online. In her
book Mrs. Walsh talks about the fear Christians deal with in sharing our faith
and how God has still called all of us to do so. I have mentioned many
times my passion and that is for just one person to draw closer to God by
something I shared and find hope. I’m going to share with you something
Mrs. Walsh wrote because if you share Christ in some form or another you will
come to her realization as well.
Her words not mine.
“I have a whole new understanding about
what you and I are called to do. We are called to show up! It’ll
never be about us getting anything perfect, but when we are present God can do
what only he can do.”
I’ve talked a bit lately about my new
dog Arisia and when my sister and niece took me to the humane society to pick
out a dog emotionally, I didn’t want to. My sister described perfectly
what kind of dog I needed to the employee. “He needs a dog he can
roughhouse and wrestle with because he’s a WWE fan.” My mom keeps saying
she is rescuing me, and I am rescuing her. We play and fight and just
have fun. I truly believe when I walked by her kennel and saw her laying
on a cot looking back at me that God had a plan by me showing up and seeing
her.
A promise I have held onto all these
years of doing this blog thing is found in Isaiah 55:8-11
“‘My thoughts are nothing like your
thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could
imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The
rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground and water the
earth, they cause the grain to grow, producing food for the farmer and bread
for the hungry. It is the same with my Word. I send it out, and it
always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will
prosper everywhere I send it.”
You see if feeble Zac shows up and
shares God’s Word, I can trust that God will use it to change lives because
it’s not about me but about God accomplishing what he set out for His Word to
do and he’s already promised to do that. Me showing up that day at the
humane society for Arisia was part of the plan God had for her and for me.
But like Mrs. Walsh was saying you have to show up and be willing to be
used by God. I share a blog via email and as a Facebook live video. It
doesn’t make any sense, but I trust God to use it to reach that one person.
Luke 12:11-12
“And when you are brought to trial in
the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to
defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time
what needs to be said.”
I show up and I am willing to share
what God lays on my heart and some days I feel like it just flopped but I trust
God to do what only he can do because it’s not about Zac. I had a life
group leader named Kathy a few years back that taught me something. In
the Old Testament, God is referred to as being I Am. He is not a God who
was or is but he is I Am. He has always existed and always will. Ms.
Kathy said “I am not, but I know I Am.” Meaning we as humans we’re flawed
but we serve the great I Am. We serve God and we show up willing and
trust Him to do what we cannot.
God is Faithful by Sheila Walsh
You are I am by Mercy Me
Tell me again by Geoff Moore and the Distance
