“When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.” Luke 1:23-25
Ok. I am just going to lay it out there for you. I am going to get real with you. I would rather eat dirt than put myself out there and post all of this on the worldwide internet. By nature I am a private person. This is hard to expose all my struggles and insecuities when I write some of these articles. And believe me, I told the Lord so the day I knew he was calling me to become a “blogger.” I remember it clearly. I was at a writing conference and the last class of the day was on how to blog and why you should. I went into the class with my arms crossed and my mentality stubborn. “I am not going to put myself out there God. I am not and You can’t make me.” I won’t bore you with the back and forth dialogue I had with God, but needless to say I put all my valid aruguments out there. I stated my case like a professional lawyer. And by ten o’clock that night “Uneartingtheeternityseed.com” was a domain site and I had posted my first blog. I lost my courtcase with “The Judge” of all the earth. My lead argument with “THE JUDGE” was, “Lord, I am not all that stable. At times my faith is still shakey. Who am I to encourage people in the faith? Really, You have had to handle many a melt down from me. You know first hand all the doubts I have shouted toward the heavens. I can’t encourage people in the faith especially my family and friends. They have witnessed too many of my mess ups!” Or, “Lord I can’t serve in Ethiopia. I am just getting too old for this. You do know I am over 50 now.” (Is it just me? Do I sound like Zechariah to you also?) His verdict, “No one is too old to serve. I am the One who gave you your love of writing. I am the One who fills your thoughts with my words. Your writing is your form of worship to Me. You just write. I will be the One to increase your faith.” So I write and He is faithful. He is increasing my faith. Every time I sit down at this keyboard He sends me a promise or a word that I feel is just for me and just for the situation that I am facing. Every time I write an article it is like I am sitting down for a counseling session with the Ultimate Counselor and its free!
So Elizabeth’s words become my words. “How kind the Lord is! He has taken away my disgrace.” I may not be a Pillar of Faith but I am a work in progress and He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. God has filled my disgrace with His Grace.
You may have tried that argument a time or two with “The Judge.” “Lord, I can’t tell others about Jesus. I am just not good enough. I don’t know the bible well enough.” We have all used that argument, and guess what? It just doesn’t hold up in His Court of Law. Moses tried it and look how well that worked out for him. God has been around the block a time or two with that argument. God’s reply, “I have taken away your disgrace. I have covered it with the blood of My Son. I have deposited My Spirit into your soul. My Spirit is all the power you need and he will give you the all the words you need to speak, and he will give you all the faith you will need for any and all situations.”
“How kind the Lord is! He has taken away my disgrace!” NLT
“So this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!” Message bible
“The Lord has done this for me! He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people.” HCSB
“I have lived with the disgrace of being barren for all these years. Now God has looked on me with favor. When I go out in public with my baby, I will not be disgraced any longer.” The Voice Bible
Hold your head up people! God has taken away our disgrace!