A Book, A Teddy and a Prayer Mat

Odd title you might say but I'll explain it to you in just a little bit. First, let me tell you how my week has been then you might understand. See, for the past one week I've been fussing over two presentations I had to do, so I did not sleep much up till yesterday. Needless to say, I think I did well despite the panic and fear that I wouldn't do it right. But three things made it easier... a book I recently read, my teddy and my prayer mat. See this semester has been absolutely tough but I found a way to cope by doing the one thing we are all afraid of doing...that's surrender. I'll take you through the relevance of each of these things then drive my point home.

A Book:

Ever read a book and thought...wooooaaaa! That was me when I read the book "In the Field of Grace" by Tessa Afshar. The story is one we might be familiar with because it's actually a bible story. That is the story of Ruth. Have you ever thought about how inspiring a story hers had to be for it to actually be in the Bible on its own. And might I add, she was Jesus great great....(many greats) grandmother. That thought profounds me. So Tessa transforms this simple story into something awesome...she adds just a touch of fiction to it but always taking you back to the actual story of the faith of one woman. This story always reminds me of how God can use someone so "small" to show His love and grace. God had a plan for Ruth, and a very important purpose to accomplish. She was just the right mix to complete it. She might have been a Moabite woman who didn't know the God her mother-in-law worshipped, but she showed the greatest step of faith by uttering the well known words, "where you will go, I will go; where you stay I will stay; your people will be my people; your God will be my God." And just for uttering those words, God did amazing things for her. I mean, how much more assurance of God's grace do you need? If God did it for Ruth, He will definitely do it for you, but you've got to ask and when God says trust me...do!

A Teddy:

The minute I saw this cute flimsy-looking teddy, I knew I had to have it. I even named him Ben. But what I didn't know was how important it would end up being for me. Like everyone, we have seasons when we just don't know how things are going to work out, and you feel like you're constantly being pulled into this depressing place...that was me a few weeks ago. But one day I walked into this store and when I saw this brown teddy with the black and white stripped tee and brown shorts, I knew it was going home with me! And so during one of those moments when I needed cheering or comfort or just a 'bear' hug...Ben was there. And then something else came to me...Ben represented a "marker" in my life...you know, something that helps you remember a certain experience. So I decided to use the name as an analogy to remind me of that low time...to remember that God was with me and still is. So for B I decided would represent 'Believe in His Love... E represents...'Entrust Him with your life' and N represents...'Never doubt His grace.' And so every time I feel overwhelmed and weary, I just go to Ben and he reminds me that God loves me, that I can entrust Him with my life and that I should never ever doubt His grace!

A Prayer Mat:  

So, I recently watched an interesting movie. "I Am Gabriel" is a movie about how Angel Gabriel came in the form of a small boy to give hope to a hopeless community. The movie might be fictitious but the message delivered stayed with me. The "boy" arrived in this town carrying only a prayer mat. So he urged the people to constantly pray and God would redeem their town. So after making prayer mats, the town began to pray and that's right...miracles began to happen. So this made me have a long think about my prayer life and how if I had a prayer mat, it would always remind me to take time and pray and what better place to surrender to God than on your knees. And that's what I've been doing since then and I didn't need to go get an actual mat, I just used what I had and what seems to be a regular-looking piece of clothing represents so much more to me. And you know what, I believe it now more than ever that God does so much more when you go on your knees and surrender to Him.

So you see how just three regular-looking things could mean so much to me. Maybe you have one of these things or maybe you need one of these things. Maybe you might be going through a hard time, I suggest you surrender to God all these burdens and see what He will do for you. And remember... when it gets really hard... just remember to believe, entrust and never doubt! :)