salt and fire

i sat down to write this blog earlier and all i got were three disjointed paragraphs.  i feel like i have so much to say and i was frustrated that i couldnt express my thoughts clearly. so i prayed... asking God to give me the words to use.  and not an hour later, while making dinner, i got seven words from the Holy Spirit.  every time he speaks to me it makes me smile.  want to know what He said???



thank them and the words will come.  (a little field of dreams-ish i know.  but it IS one of my favorite movies.  and hey, it just goes to show that God has a great sense of humor.)  ;)

and as always, He was right.   :)  so i want to take a second to thank all of you who come here to read what the God is saying through me.  all the comments on facebook, and all the emails that i have gotten have been so awesome and positive.  which is cool because, to tell you the truth, i was really nervous to put all of this out there.  then i realized that this is who i am now,  and yes, it might rub some people the wrong way....but maybe i have some things to say that those people need to hear... and if i keep popping up in their feed often enough, maybe they might click my link and see what this whole thing is about.

anyway, it makes me smile to see my page views spike after i post something, because i know The Word is being spread.  so thanks again for reading.  i hope and pray that this blog speaks to each of you on a personal level.  if you havent found Christ, i hope it helps lead you to Him... and if you have, i really hope it encourages you have a closer walk with Him.

so lets do this people!


one of the things that i hear Pastor Rick say a lot in his sermons is that we should be the salt.  for the longest time i would sit in service and think to myself ... the salt ... the salt... what does that mean?!  and instead of asking my husband... or Pastor Rick...  or any number of people at the church who would have known, i would just sit there confused.  of course, if you have read my emails to Pastor David, you know i had no trouble expressing my thoughts, emotions, and feelings to him.  but when it came to the basic... what does this term mean... who is this person in the Bible... i was uncomfortable asking anyone.

but i had that fire... the thirst for The Word... and the cool thing about the whole situation is that i really felt Gods hand on my chest... holding me back... telling me not to try and run before i walk.  i really feel that God didnt want me to be digging too deep into The Word the first couple of weeks that we were getting to know each other.   He wanted me to take a little time to be a baby....and i did.

if you read this email that i wrote to Pastor Dave you know that it seemed like all i was doing was crying.  i cried when i read the word... i cried when my kids told me they loved me... i cried when i made a good cup of coffee in the morning for petes sake!  but at night when i would lay down in bed and all was quiet, i would literally feel him stroke my hair, or rub my back until i fell asleep.  The Father was taking care of His baby girl.  and it was amazing. 

several weeks after i was saved one of robert and my best friends came in to visit us for the weekend.  on saturday night, after we got all the kids down, the three of us headed outside to enjoy the weather and talk a bit.  and boy did our friend talk!  you see, the past few years have been rough for him.  really rough.  he was discussing some of the things that were going on in his life right now... looking for advice... looking for a shoulder to lean on... but from the second he opened his mouth i realized that this friend... this man that i have known for a decade.... had changed.  everything about him had changed.  even his shoulders...that used to be tense all the time...  were relaxed.

what i came to discover, very quickly, was that in the past few months this man has completely surrendered his life to Christ, and it was evident in every sentence that came out of his mouth.  he came to robert and me that night looking for advice and a shoulder, but what he didnt know at the time was what he was doing for ME.

he was witnessing to me.

i sat there for almost three hours listening to what my friend had to say.  his troubles... his questions... his story... and i saw a fire in him that night that i have very rarely seen in a person.  he made me realize that the fire that i thought i had for Christ was just a little candle flickering inside of me.  and the awesome thing about it was that there was no shame in that for me.  i saw his fire and immediately wanted my flame to become a fire too! 

now back to the question i had about "being the salt."   i have heard several explanations as to what it means, but my favorite is the one that i heard during wednesday night service the week after my friend was here.   it is that we... as  Christians... should live our lives in such a way that we give other people a thirst for Christ... a thirst for the word... a thirst to know just what it is that we have that makes us so content...  a thirst to know what it is that makes us so happy.

as i was sitting in the pew that night... it struck me... my friend had been "the salt" for me. hearing my friend speak had given me a thirst for the word.... a thirst for answers... a thirst for a closer walk with God.   God had sent my friend to us that night to give me that thirst... and He gave me that thirst to tell me that it was time for me to grow up a little bit.  He was telling me that i wasnt a little baby anymore.  He was telling me that it was time for me to start my big girl walk with Him.  you see, hearing my friend speak so openly about his relationship with Christ made me realize that i could do that too, and sitting in the pew that night i realized God was telling me that it was time for me to start ASKING all those questions that i had.  He was telling me that i could start to try and quench that thirst that my friend had given me.  (like ive said before, and im sure you will hear me say many times more... Gods little brush strokes are so beautiful.)

anyway, over the next few days i started wondering exactly how i am supposed to be the salt.... and it came to me when i was looking back at that conversation that robert, my friend and i had that saturday night.  my friend didnt know that he was making me thirsty during those few hours.   but the way he spoke... his actions.... even his tears... just proclaimed ... "i have Christ walking with me."

i think the most amazing words in that last sentence are ...he didnt know he was making me thirsty. you see, he wasnt trying to preach to me.  he was just speaking the truth... his truth... and i think the fact that he didnt realize what he was doing made what he had to say that much more powerful.

my point is this.  as Christians we have to remember that every action we make... every word that we speak... has the possibility to be the salt for someone, even if you dont know it.   and because of that, we need to try even harder to live our lives the way that Christ wants us to.  not just for ourselves... but for other people as well.  you just never know if the way you treat your server at the resturant... or the words that you speak to the cashier at the grocery... or even the words that you speak to your friends and family... might make them ask you .... what is that fire that you have burning inside of you?  what makes you so happy?   to which you will be able to answer... i have Jesus Christ walking with me... let me tell you a little bit about him....



ding dang yall.... the Holy Spirit was right.... thank them and the words will come indeed, amen?  :)