To be Exceptional in the Ordinary Things

    Oswald Chambers voiced these words to a room full of students training to become pastors, "We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes." I am currently rereading "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers and the above truth was difficult for me to read. 

    In my early 20s I was always waiting to be called to do something extraordinary for God. I looked around and saw so many small and insignificant acts in my eyes and I wondered when God was going to use me for something really spectacular. I thought then that those people who were called to travel to third world countries to serve as missionaries were being called to do massively wonderful things for God. Those were the people who were truly making a difference.

    Looking back on that train of thought, I had it completely wrong. We are called to share the Good News with all people. It isn't our job to try and change people's opinions. God changes people's hearts and He alone saves them. God doesn't need us, but He chooses to use us to further His Kingdom. 

It wasn't until Eli was born that I truly realized how vital those seemingly small, insignificant acts were. After my father was diagnosed with cancer, my son Eli, who was 5 years old at the time, caught me in the kitchen one night crying. It had been a long day and we had just received more bad news about Dad's cancer and I thought I was all alone. If you are a parent, I know that you understand that you don't want to upset your children by letting them see you cry. At the time I was reserving some tears to be shed after everyone had gone to bed, but on that particular night Eli must have heard me. 

    He came downstairs and wrapped his little arms around me and asked why I was crying. I told him that I was worried about Pop. Eli said, "Don't cry Mom, God is going to take care of him. I know He can heal him." 

A few weeks later I received a phone call from Eli's Sunday School teacher. She wanted to let me know that Eli had been praying for my dad during their prayer time on Sunday morning. She told me that he truly believes that God is the Great Physician.

    I wish that I could write to you and tell you that I have been the perfect mother who reads the Bible to her children every night and always has the perfect Bible verse to use in every situation, but I am not that mother.  We do read the Bible in our home and I do try to talk to my children about God everyday, but I am certainly not in any shape or form perfect. God took those small insignificant situations and He used them in ways that were unexplainable.

Fast forward 4 years later and although surgery and chemotherapy removed the cancer, it reared its ugly head in April of 2021. After another round of chemotherapy, my parents decided to seek a different type of treatment at MD Anderson in Houston, TX. I broke the news to our boys, Eli and Hub. I explained that Gran and Pop would have to be gone from about a month so that Pop could get better. They both said again that we shouldn't worry because God would take care of Pop. Both boys were adamant so much so that there wasn't a hint of worry on their faces. 

    The Bible speaks of childlike faith and this is an example of it. It is blind, crazy, unexplainable, reckless, and nonsensical. It goes against every textbook, scientist, doctor, or chemist. It is unbelievable to a person who does not believe in a Supernatural, All Powerful, Living God. 

    All this time (and I have written on this before) I have believed that it is my husband and I who are supposed to be teaching our children, but it is our children who remind us of the great God that we serve.  

    Recently, I took my children to South Louisville Baptist Church's fall festival. On the drive home I asked Eli and Hub, who were trying to come down from a sugar rush, if they had a good time at the festival. Both boys went on and on about all the fun that they had. Eli, who is very shrewd, suggested that the festival had to have cost a large sum of money. He was concerned as to how the church had acquired such a large sum of money to put on such a great festival. I explained that most churches create a budget at the beginning of the year and that the money comes from donations and offerings. He questioned whether or not the fall festival was a waste of money. Before I could speak Hub exclaimed, "No way! God wants us to have fun at His house!" 

    Hub had a good point. I explained to Eli that there were so many people that came to God's house and although some may have only come to have fun at the fall festival, they still came to God's house. All are welcomed in God's house. 

    There have been so many ordinary people (who are really extraordinary in my book) that have made a difference in not only my life, but my children's lives. Small, insignificant actions are not small or insignificant.