Colossians 1:15
No one can see God, but Jesus Christ is exactly like him. He ranks higher than everything that has been made.16 Through his power all things were made—things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ.17 He was there before anything was made, and all things continue because of him.
Please watch the following video before reading the rest of the post (it's ten minutes long):
It's hard to say anything after watching the amazing video, however, this video has stuck in my mind over the last several weeks and two thoughts from it continue to roll around and around in my head. As I watched this video I couldn't help but relate it to our spiritual lives. Our miraculous, miracle working God not only works in the "big" but He also works in the "small."
If the fetus continues to grow at this speed the entire 9 months it would be 1.5 tons at birth!
As we see in Colossians 1:15, Jesus is our visual of our invisible God, He is also our Creator. Often times people can become discouraged because they can no longer see God's hand working in their lives. There was a season and a time when they saw Him everywhere. But suddenly He seemed to disappear. When I heard Alexander Tsiaras say, "If the fetus continued to grow at that speed the baby would be 1.5 tons at birth" I related this fact with our growing faith. Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, knows how to grow us perfectly. There is a reason our visible spiritual growth at times slows down BUT that reason is NOT rooted in a lack of care from God. As a mother, I am extremely grateful that the rate of a growing baby decreases. But as we see, there is still A LOT of vital and important things going on inside that we cannot see with our visible eyes. The same is true for us spiritually:
Isaiah 40:13-14, 27-31
Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Know that God is always working in the intimate details of your life, even if you feel stuck in the moment, even if it feels like nothing is happening - He is always there, working, moving, caring and loving you.
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By 9 months you have 60,000 miles of vessels and only 1 mile is visible but they are all providing life and taking waste away.
Every once in a while I look back over my life and I can suddenly see one of the beautiful strands of our story-weaving God working in my life. God is always moving and sometimes we need to take time to look back and notice the little bits that we can see. But even as we relish in those things we can also have confidence that there is even more going on then meets the eye.
One of my visible vessels:
My son woke up the other night with itchy feet. At the time, we were staying overnight at a ministry we are a part of that works with single pregnant women. We went for a little walk to try and distract him. We began to walk the hall praying for the individuals we minister to.
After praying, we started talking about prayer and I asked him if he knew that the Holy Spirit resided in him. He said that he didn't know that. I explained that He indeed does and one of our privileges as children of God is that we get to listen to the voice of God. I said that when we pray, we can stop and listen to what God has to say over a situation and then declare it. After this, I began to tell him a story that originated in the heart of God, and eternally affected our personal lives because two people stopped to listen to God.
When my mom was pregnant with me, her life was out of sorts of many fronts and her pregnancy caused her to be overwhelmed, so she scheduled an abortion. The morning the abortion was scheduled, she met with a pastor and he counseled and prayed with my mom. She chose to keep me and not her appointment at the clinic. After hearing this, my son, a little wide-eyed, realized that if I wasn't here then neither would he be here. We then marveled at that fact that now our entire family gets to minister to other moms who easily could have had an abortion but have made the choice to parent. We discussed how future generations will be positively affected by one small decision, on one small day all because someone stopped to pray and listen to God's heart.
I'm sure that pastor doesn't remember that day. I'm sure my grandchildren or great-grandchildren may never know this piece of their story. But this piece, that originated in the heart of God, still brings life to me, brings life to my children, brings life to women and children we are blessed to minister to and will bring life to future generations. This stream of life originated in the heart of God and has trickled down from generation to generation. Each generation, the profoundness of it all will seem smaller and smaller, but just like our tiny capillaries it still plays an important role. I can only imagine how many more capillaries have fed and continue to feed into my life today.
I hope and pray that today you can pause and recognize a vessel in your own life. And while reflecting on it, recognize that there is even more going on behind the scenes then you can even imagine. Our God is a God of the smalls as well as the bigs and He loves every detail of your life.
In Christ,
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