need

What Do You Have in the House?

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

In II Kings 4, a widow approached Elisha for help and he asked her an odd question, “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” All she had was a jar of oil, but God used that jar of oil to work a mighty miracle. We humans tend to overlook what God has already given us, considering it to be “not enough.” Her oil was definitely not enough – until God touched it.

If you read yesterday’s review of Priscilla Shirer’s devotional, Awaken, it shouldn’t surprise you that the following thoughts were triggered by Day 2. And of course I had to apply them to me.

Experiencing the Bible is my jar. The oil is the gift of words and my joy in them (especially my joy in THE Word).

I’d begun a much simpler version of the book years ago. I kept putting it down, and God kept bringing me back to it. This year, I finally finished and published it. I asked God about marketing, but He told me not to worry about it. The point, at that time, truly was obedience.

Then, on October 1st, my husband passed away, taking his income with him, and suddenly I was the widow going to God saying, “I can’t do this on my own. I have to have Your help!” He pointed to the “jar on the shelf” and told me to get started. He has truly been my ever-present help in recent months, supplying my needs in consistently miraculous ways, but He’s also kept me moving forward with a vision that has grown far beyond anything I’d imagined.

In the midst of this my son, who owns Pixel Drip Studio, offered to create a full website to replace this simple blog. That started a conversation, and plans, and ideas that triggered a lot of action. So here I am, pouring out the oil. To the print book, I added first an ebook and then a journal. I’m already looking to the next book…actually, the next two. I’m also studying marketing, newsletters, social media and more.

God gives us all gifts, talents, and abilities, providing us with “jars of oil.” Then it’s up to us to pour out the oil and sell it for a profit. It took the widow time, effort, and humility to go borrow all those vessels from her neighbors and then fill them. Too, it generally requires the help of others, both her neighbors and her son in her case, and my son…both of them actually…in mine.

It can also take walking in obedience in advance. Had I not finished Experiencing the Bible when God told me to, it wouldn’t have been sitting on the shelf when I needed it.

So I’ll repeat Priscilla’s question from Day 2. What are some of the “jars of oil” you might be overlooking right now that He’s already provided?

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Touchpoint Prayers

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Everyone needs prayer. The strongest Christian needs prayer. The weakest sinner needs prayer. The billionaire needs prayer. The politician needs prayer. The man behind me in line at the grocery store needs prayer.

Years ago, after one particularly important ambulance trip, I started a habit of praying every time I hear sirens. I pray for everyone involved, for protection, healing, wisdom, direction, peace… I do this because someone needs to be praying over the situation and I may be the only one who is.

Then I began praying over people that have pulled over beside the road, even if they’ve left their cars. I don’t know what is needed at the time, but God does and I ask Him to supply it. Sometimes, after I pass them, I realize I’ve been praying over a police officer and I smile. With their jobs, they really need prayer.

Now I pray like this all the time, for strangers all over the place. They don’t have to be doing anything particularly right or wrong. I just try to stay sensitive and aware. They are unconsciously coming into contact with me and that gives me a chance to pray God’s blessings over them.

They’ll never know anyone prayed for them, unless God tells them. But what if they are desperately in need of prayer in that moment? They deserve to have someone pray, and at that point in time that someone is me.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

But He Gave

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Have you ever really thought about Jesus, specifically about His emotional state, in Matthew 14:13-21?

He’d just learned that John the Baptist, His relative, the first one to recognize Jesus (in his mother’s womb), the one who prepared the way for Him, the one who baptized Him and announced to the people that He was The One they’d been waiting for, had been murdered, beheaded. Jesus was divine, but He was also human, and His human heart had to be torn.

So He set out to go to the desert to be alone. To mourn, perhaps? To talk to His heavenly Father about it? Who knows? But the very fact that He went shows that He had a need. However…

The people followed Him, and He chose their needs over His own. Honestly, He had every right to take some time off, to receive comfort for a while. But that’s not what happened.

Instead, He gave.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Ditch the Judgmental Attitudes

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment
from Last-days Survival Guide, by Rick Renner

The above quote is from chapter two of Rick Renner’s Last-days Survival Guide (phenomenal book), and I shouted when I read it. I used to be a judgmental person, and let me tell you…I’m a lot happier and more productive since I got a grip.

There’s not really any need for me to add to this. As he says, “You must free your heart of judgmental attitudes if you are to be a person God can use to help people who are in need.”

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C