The Big Picture

We had the wonderful pleasure and opportunity of having Allie Black come and speak to us this morning. She shared about "The Big Picture" and Advancing God's Kingdom Through Your Ministry of Motherhood.

God has called us into the calling and ministry of motherhood. He chose us to be the mother's of our children and there isn't another mom on the planet cut out and more capable to do so than us! What a blessing and reminder that is!

Allie talked about how she got "The Big Picture" concept and described it as when you take your eyes off of what's right in front of you and put them on the horizon, you get the big picture. When you keep the horizon (eternity) as your main focus then everything will fall into place.

A few things to help us refocus on "The Big Picture" are:

Rear-View Mirror - Keep our past in perspective. Don't always look in the rear-view mirror. We all have issues but we don't want to focus on that or we'll crash.

Side-View Mirrors - When we're comparing ourselves and looking too much at what other people are doing, we're going to crash. Galatians 5:1 says "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." We all need to be freed up from what others think of us and grab on to that freedom!

Dashboard - It's very important that we check out the dashboard for lights that come on (our emotions!). If something comes on we need to investigate it and see where it's coming from and how we're doing.

Running on Empty - Make sure we're not taking on too many things. Stop at a rest stop! Resting is not a suggestion from God - He demands it. If you're going in the wrong direction and taking on too much, stop and back up.

Stuck in a Ditch - Sometime we get stuck in a ditch on our journey. Usually what gets up stuck most of the time is unforgiveness and we miss out on the blessing of prayer.

R.T. Kendall writes a checklist in his book "Total Forgiveness" on how to know if you've completely forgiven someone.

Let's take inventory:

1) If you've truly forgiven someone, you're not going to tell anyone, even the person who hurt who in some circumstances.

2) Don't make them feel afraid, uncomfortable or intimidated by you.

3) You won't let them feel guilty.

4) When someone has wronged you, you will help them save face.

5) You'll protect them from their darkest secrets.

6) You'll bless those who have hurt you.

Pretty powerful stuff... It was an eye opener to me! I know I've done one or more of these things to someone I had thought I had truly forgiven. I am so thankful to have a Heavenly Father who will forgive me, going above and beyond everything listed above, and we must do the same.

Allie did such an amazing job of reminding us that when we stick to the vision of the calling God has for us, we'll see the big picture. We need to be faithful to our calling and we will see the results of our hard work.

When you're in the throws of motherhood and all of the hard, tiring, tedious, exhausting days, God sees EVERYTHING. Every diaper change, every load of laundry, every tear you wipe away and every Candyland game you sit down to play. The Lord will reward you and you will one day see the reward too! This is where God has called you and will bless you.

Courtney (Allie's daughter) and her husband, James, concluded Allie's talk with a few songs of worship and they did amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts with us this morning and leading us into the Lord's presence with beautiful worship!