DO IT WITH ROOTS!
I just had one of those moments. Do you know the kind of moments I’m talking about? The kind where you are up all night finishing the details of something big – whether it be for your child’s slumber party, Christmas, project deadlines for the CEO of a company, the PTA, the soccer team, cheerleading squad, pasta dinner, community fundraiser, or church discipleship weekend? And let’s raise the ante a bit, meaning that if your part didn’t get done, the event, the project, or the party would not happen, literally. Little and big hearts would be disappointed. Most of all, you knew you were on a God-assignment and you didn’t want to let God down! He’d given you what you needed to do what He was asking you to do, and now all you had to do was acknowledge your huge weaknesses and utterly rely on Him and Him alone because based on the circumstances, resources or lack thereof, calendar and second hand and lack of time left to pull it off – your time was up and your human brain couldn’t think for one more synapse firing if your life depended on it!
On top of all that, the car broke down, your son’s glasses broke, and your long-lost sister whom you’d never met called from California 20 minutes ‘til midnight the night before your three-hour mock comprehensive oral exam for the doctorate program, which was scheduled for the next morning at 9 am. The gamete of emotions surrounded you; you were glad, sad, terrified and exhausted. The midnight hour was coming in more ways than one and you needed a miracle! I guess you can tell those last few examples are directly from my present life.
With all this going on, my gray roots were showing. I had prayed that I would get paid before my three hour mock-comprehensive oral exam, but it didn’t happen. I would trust God to help me do it all with roots. Ugh! I so needed my gray roots touched up. No matter how I parted my hair, the gray shone through. I kind of felt like when Moses came down from Mt. Sania - except instead of the glory of the Lord shinning off my hair from being in His presence, thick gray strands of gray stuck up right in my part area like an old Alphalpa – and a female one at that! I’d been gray since 18-years old. My older brother was practically gray in high school, except he said I was the cause of his gray.
Who was the cause of mine? Oh, who cares, really. My care and need was that God would do what only He could - all the stuff I couldn’t do if I tried. I was praying I’d survive the exam which was a pass or fail.
I was driving home from the mock-oral exam the next day, which went beautifully by the way – “Thank, You, Lord!” and I was talking to God with tears of tiredness and relief in my eyes. My legs were throbbing, my body felt like it had the flu, but I knew it was caused from only getting three hours of sleep. In my 20’s, I could sleep three hours and not miss a beat. Now, at almost 40, I understand why prisoners of war might spill all their secrets when they are sleep deprived.
I was talking with God, thanking Him for who He is, and He said, “Yep, and Kristina, you did it all with roots!”
I laughed and I said, “Yes, rooted in Your Word, Sir! Rooted in Your Word, Father.”
In thinking back to that long night and my conversation with God, I chuckle a little and I remind you, whatever you are doing, do it as unto the Lord, my sister…
and “do it with roots!”
Col 3:23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
Col 3:24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her recently founded Share & Company Publishing House http://seymourkristina.wix.
Originally published Tuesday, 10 July 2018.
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