Ants Have Two Stomachs

Recently, my kitchen has been invaded by ants.  Just so you know, ants totally gross me out...  more than spiders.  There's nothing that freaks me out like sitting on a patch of grass and then realizing the ground around you looks like it's moving with an entire ant city.

But oftentimes, what we fear is also something fascinating because we usually fear what we can't control or understand.  And even I have to admit, ants are fascinating.

Here are some ant facts for you to check out:  

http://antark.net/ant-facts/

Two facts about ants that I've been thinking about are: (1) they can carry burdens much bigger than themselves and (2) they feed each other.

I think about how the Bible says: "carry each other's burdens" (Galatians 6:2) and also that "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13). Unlike some ant species, I know that I cannot lift anything 100 times my own weight on my own- neither literally or figuratively.  But I believe that God enables us to do and to carry much more by his strength.

My favorite ant fact though is that ants have two stomachs- one regular stomach and one stomach to feed other ants.  Built into their very anatomy is the responsibility of feeding each other.

Furthermore, a singular ant is almost always insignificant, but an entire group of ants can carry great things together.  So too, the family of believers can carry great things for one another.  We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses as we run our race.  So when one of us is too weak or weary to pray, let us as a family of believers pray for him.  When one of us has moments of doubt and fear that cripples any hope for a miracle, let us hope for a miracle for her.  We are one.  We are united.  We can carry each other's burdens, we can pray each other's prayers, we can hope each other's hopes.

Perhaps the hardest part of all of this is allowing for others to carry my burdens.  Admitting when I lack faith or hope or love enough to pray big prayers for God's amazing work to be done.  Confessing my sins and weaknesses and struggles in order for people to pray with me, pray for me, and encourage me.  Realizing the moments in which I cannot feed myself and must be fed by another.  Allowing the Church, allowing God's people, to actually be my family as God intended it to be.  This is the hardest thing, but it is the most beautiful of all.

"...But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.  If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

(1 Corinthians 12:24-26)

Suffering

I'm going to be honest here.  I know very little about the topic of suffering.  So I've included an excerpt written by a friend of mine who can speak on what suffering has meant in her life and her faith down the bottom of this post.

 I have met people who know about the world of suffering in ways I hope I never have to.  Suffering goes by many names.  Sometimes it is something we cannot hide and sometimes it is something no one can see.  But in this life, everyone has known suffering, and the world is full of it.  Suffering is not fair and it is not equal.  Some people suffer little while others seem to live a life of constant suffering.  And oftentimes, the presence of suffering in this world is the very reason that a person cannot fathom a truly loving and almighty God.

The idea that God did not create the world with suffering, that it was not part of his original and perfect design, and yet he allows it to happen is very hard for us to understand.  Sometimes we can wrap our minds around it intellectually but as soon as your friend loses a child or your sister is diagnosed with cancer, that idea gets harder and harder to swallow without choking.

Jesus came and chose to suffer, chose to endure pain, chose to die, chose shame and humiliation, chose separation from God in order to save us from eternal suffering.  ---in order to ultimately reconcile all the broken pieces of creation.


God used suffering as the means to save us, and although suffering is a result from a world broken and distorted by sin, he continues to use it, use suffering, to save us.


I have a few friends, who like Jesus, have chosen suffering, have asked God to suffer for the sake of others and for God's plan.  When I first heard a friend tell me this, my reaction was: "WHAT?! Why?!"  I realize that suffering might be part of what God has in store for me but I don't think I'll ever ASK for it.  In reality, I question whether any sane person could ask for it without being prompted by God to do so, without it being his plan first because asking for suffering goes against our very DNA as pain-avoiding and comfort-seeking creatures.

I have a friend Jacqueline who long before becoming ill, asked to suffer for the glory of God.  Now as she is navigating being a new wife and mother, she prayed that God would heal her from her illness if that is what he wants.  Her words on suffering are more profound than mine.

She recalls in her post:

I said to Father John, “I really do believe that Jesus can heal me of this disease overnight. I really do. He can do anything. But the problem is that long before I ever became really ill, I prayed that He would make me a saint. I asked to live out my purgatory on earth. And I also asked that, if He allowed it, I could suffer for the reparation of sins and the conversion of souls.”

Father John smiled wide and laughed. “Well, Saint Augustine said that if you want Jesus to answer a prayer quickly, ask Him to suffer. But, when Jesus allows suffering in our life He always does it with mercy and with love. And remember that when we ask Him to become saints, he chooses the path to get us there. He knows the best way for our soul. So, you’ve asked Him for these things, and you’ve asked Him to heal you so that you can be the best wife and mother possible. So, now, we wait. We wait to see what He does.”

(To read more of this blog post:
https://4thenarrowroad.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/it-is-well-with-my-soul/ )

My Life Is Not About Me: An Introduction

I can say with certainty that life is not about me, but I often live as though it is.

I believed that God was real ever since I was very little, but it was not until I was around 16 that I said to Jesus: There is no life worth living but a life lived for you.  Like most people, I didn't think very much about what it means to "give your life to Jesus," I just knew Jesus was it.  He called me, and I followed.  He opened my eyes to truth, and I believed.

But when I "gave my life to Jesus," I didn't realize what it would look like, and I must admit I still don't and probably never will fully know.  But of this I'm sure: giving all to Him meant giving ALL to Him.

So He is constantly teaching me what that looks like, and gently and gradually I am learning to give over parts of my life for His purpose, not mine.  Sure, I'm still a selfish human, but every selfish action and thought is running in direct contradiction to the truth- that I was created by a loving God for a purpose in his great plan.

And so I ask time and again for God to take my day and make it His, write His story with my life, and I know it will be much greater than I could ever write it.  We live in a world where we want to control everything, and when we have more control over our life, our circumstances, our finance, our future, the world sees us as more successful.  I've learned that it's all facade, that we never truly have control to begin with, and it has never been about me, or you, or any Tom, Dick, Harry, or Taylor Swift.  And thank God for that.

And although my stories are largely about me and my tiny experiences of life and God, I hope it is a window to a story much greater than my story.  I hope to make it not about me in the end.

Prayer Part III: Praying for Enemies

I haven't felt much like writing.

Honestly, with everything going on in the world, my thoughts and words feel incredibly small, but I should write anyway.

Like much of the world, I've been praying a lot for the Middle East and an end to the violence, terrorism, and horror of ISIS and Boko Haram.  And we pray for the victims, and the refugees, our troops, and the world leaders...

Lately, my prayers have also taken another turn.  In reflecting on the life of St. Paul, I am reminded that he was first Saul of Tarsus, a man who hunted down the Christians of his day with relentless fervor and hatred.  He stood by and watched and approved the crowds as they stoned Stephen to death, he dragged men, women, and children from their homes, and he did not stop at persecuting the innocent of Jerusalem but sought permission to bring his hunt to other cities as well.  Christians everywhere knew his name, and spoke about him with fear.  All this he did believing he was honoring God.

And then he met Jesus.

And Jesus taught Saul what a life of honoring God would truly look like.  Saul of Tarsus became Paul, and he traveled all over preaching the good news that he had fought to destroy- that Jesus is Lord and came to save us all.  A man so bloodthirsty and full of hatred was now a man who prayed and worked with a tireless love.

And with that in mind, Let us pray for our enemies, pray for radical transformation of those who are most filled with hatred.  Let us pray that some of the major leaders of ISIS, of Boko Haram, of other groups who are killing and torturing men, women, and children will meet Jesus and that their hearts will be altered forever.  I pray that those whom God chooses to change will be the ones he uses to change the world for his good plan.  I pray that the loudest voices of hatred become the brightest beacons of Christ's hope.  I pray that he changes Sauls into Pauls.  And that the world will watch and wonder at the powerful hand and relentless mercy of our God.

I pray for miracles that are only possible with the power of an Almighty and All-loving God.  Lord, we need miracles from your hand.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."  John 1:5

Prayer Part II: Life and Death and Baby Brothers

I interrupted her in the middle of her prayer.  "No, no, no.  I have to stop you," I told the teenage girl in front of me.  We had been talking about praying boldly, and after she told me some of the big prayers she had, I told her one of mine- that my brothers who profess there is no God will come to know Him and be transformed by Jesus.  So we decided to pray for one another's intentions.

"Dear God, I pray for Miss Lee's brothers that they will have faith.... But if they don't, that's okay too because it's their choice."

"No, no, no.  I have to stop you."

I have to admit, I've never stopped anyone's prayer before, and I've heard some strange prayers to tell you the truth.  But my brothers do not have faith in Jesus, and that's a life or death matter.  So I don't feel the need to be polite.  Sound dramatic?  If you think so, let me explain.  {Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and there is no way, truth, or life apart from him.  We are all sinners and the payment for sin is death, and only through Jesus are we saved from that death.}  In our culture today, those kind of absolute statements make us squirm, but I know Jesus is who he says he is and he is indeed the Savior of the world.

  I love my baby brothers too much to pray for anything other than for Jesus to save them.  If I knew they were about to walk in front of a train or pull the trigger of a gun pointed at their head, I would never say, "Please don't, but if you do, that's okay too because it's your choice."  I would beg for anyone, anyone to save them, and in this case, Jesus is the only one who can.  So I beg him.

But her prayer revealed something in my heart that I've been thinking about these past few days.  I stopped her from praying a timid prayer because those were my brothers she was talking about and I love them.  I pray for them, and my prayers will be bold and relentless, and I will not allow for anything less.  But what about everyone else?  Who is praying boldly and relentlessly for them?  Who loves them enough?

Maybe I need to pray for everyone like they are my baby brothers in a life or death situation.  Maybe all Christians need to pray like that.  Because if God is our Father, and life is found in Jesus, well, that might not be as far from the truth as one might think.

Jesus, reveal yourself, your love, and your truth to baby brothers.  Open their hearts to believe that you are Lord and you are risen.  Teach us to ask boldly.  Amen.