How many of you love to read? I know I do! What a blessing it is to be able to read. If I did not know how to read, how would I learn about what God says in his Word? Or about how God uses his people to do great works for his name? I have been reading for many years now, but until recently, I do not think I have stopped and thanked the Lord for blessing me with the ability to read.
The reason that I have started this post off this way is because in the last few weeks God has shown me several things through his Word, a book, and a child.
Last Sunday and Monday I read a book that I had been meaning to read for a while called God’s Smuggler. This is a wonderful book if you have not read it, and I highly recommend that you read it. The book is about a man, Brother Andrew, whose obedience and faith in God has led him on an incredible lifelong journey. Brother Andrew grew up hearing about God, but did not become a Christian until he was in his twenties. He was on fire for the Lord and took obedient steps that led to a life that no one could have imagined.
During the Cold War years, Brother Andrew went behind the Iron Curtain and delivered Bibles to people under the Soviet Union’s control. He did not rely on his own strength or cleverness to sneak the Bible’s in, but on the Lord. He prayed that God, who had made the blind see, would make seeing eyes blind, so that the Bibles could be taken through the check points to people who so desperately needed God’s Word.
This was an amazing book filled with example after example of how God was faithful and provided for Brother Andrew as he walked in obedience with God. If anyone wants to borrow it let me know and I will be happy to loan it to you!
For one of my classes this semester we are required to have twelve hours of observation in a local school. I had the opportunity to observe at a local middle school and work with students in special education.
On the day that I finished reading God’s Smuggler, I went out to the middle school and the teacher asked me to take three students and go read a story out loud. One of the students would not speak up, so I finally moved next to him so I could hear. He could barely read. Words that he should know for his age, he did not know. I tried to help him and encourage him, but already at such a young age he had given up on reading. It broke my heart. I understood then why he was reading so quietly and mumbling his words. He did not want others to know that he has a hard time reading.
I had just finished reading this awesome book, and he will probably never read it. No one cared enough to read to him or facilitate his young mind when he was a child, and now he is lost in school. The times our parents spent reading the Bible and other books to us is a rarity in our world today. I am glad that I am going into the field of education. There is a huge need out there for teachers, Christian teachers, to help so many children out there. It is a great mission field and I am excited about it!
It is always amazing to me how God always seems to put something on our heart to read right when we need it. While I was reading God’s Smuggler I was also reading the book of Hebrews and came to Hebrews 11. I love chapter 11! By faith Abraham, Moses, and other men and women in the Bible lived their lives. They were not superheroes or more superior people than us, but they had complete, 100% faith in God no matter the circumstance.
Think about this, Abraham was going to sacrifice his one and ONLY son, whom he loved, because God told him to, “on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (See Genesis 22 for the entire story).
First of all, how often do we say to God, I need more instruction? More direction. We like to see the whole picture before we move, but God doesn’t work that way. He only gives us the information that we need to know at that moment.
Second of all, God told Abraham to sacrifice his ONLY CHILD!!! He didn’t ask him to give up watching television for a week, or facebook for a month, or even text messaging, but his son that he loved more than his own life! And what was Abraham’s, response? The Bible tells us that he rose early the next morning and heading off as God instructed him.
Abraham had faith that God knew what he was doing. So did Noah, Moses, David, the Prophets, and Brother Andrew. Of course, Brother Andrew is not in the 11th chapter of Hebrews about faith, but he had the faith of the men and women of old. I do not want to ruin the story by giving you an example from the book, but Brother Andrew acted time and time again with faith in God, and the Lord was faithful every time.
I am a point in my life where I feel like major things are about to happen. I have no idea what this means, and I may sound crazy, but I want my life to be an offering to God to use in any way that he sees best. I have seen how God uses his people who are willing to fully trust in him. I have read about the men and women in the bible over and over, heard stories about missionaries in the past few centuries, read about Brother Andrew’s journey, and know people personally who God has used to accomplish his purpose.
I want to do the same. I am tired of sitting around just living my life. God has so much more for me than I can ever dream about, but I have to give everything up to follow him. God is at work all around us, and I am excited about what he is doing and going to do through his people. Life is not worth living, unless we are living for the Savior!
Brother Andrew is one of my favorite books, I am glad you liked it too. :)
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