The Witness (is not amish)

Been thinking a lot on my witness.

As a wife and mother, my first witness comes to the one who watches me the closest--- I must "discipline myself for the purpose of godliness" (1 Tim 4:7) because as I do, I am able to spark the change I want to see in the world. Want your husband to lead you into holiness more? Spend more time in prayer and in the Word yourself. Want your husband to be more open to the Holy Spirit? Be opened yourself. Want him to respect you and treat you with more kindness and compassion? Respect HIM and treat him as the most precious thing you have. It sounds so simple, but that's the "dying to self" that we find so difficult--- it's so much easier to think we are on track to being holy vessels and wonder what everyone else's problem is.



Just as it's easier to want to pray alone, in the silence of our retreated minds, when we can pray at a liesurely pace and really take the time to recieve from God. And yet, we are called to pour ourselves out, to be, as Oswald Chambers once said, "Broken bread and poured-out wine," and so we must learn to love prayer in the busiest moments of our day, when we don't think we CAN hear from God, demonstrating by faith that we know He is both listening and working, always.

Towards my children, my witness is a constant thing. I am amazed every day when I see what they see through those little eyes-- how they catch everything. Aside from "training them up in the way that they should go," (Prov 22:6) so that when they are old, they will not depart from it, I must also give them a reason to believe that joy I say I have in the Lord. When trials come, they must see me, time and again, walking in the peace which surpasses all understanding (Phillippians 4:7) and not falling into unrest. It's so easy to get frustrated when you have two kids two and under who both have the same mood shifts... all it takes is a late nap here and a too-long phone call on my part and I am faced with attention needs that must be met that quite literally can make my head spin. I've learned that controlled chaos in a house full of family can be a beautiful thing.

The other night, we had the opportunity to visit a dear friend's house for dinner. We were surprised to find that she and her husband live in one of the exact houses that my husband had plumbed when it was being built. Back when he was a plumber here a few years ago he would come home at the end of the day, gather us all up, and drive us back to his work site where he would show us what he had done that day. Often times we would sit in the skeleton of the house, watching the slowly setting sun through the beams and supports, and dream about where we would put rooms and what we do with the space if the house was being built for us. So when we walked into our friend's life, we saw a living picture of what we had imagined in that very same home: a beauitiful, well-worn family bible, a bowlful of rosaries near the fireplace, a home that would make martha stewart proud but that contained a lot of love and affection. I admit, in my mind's eye it made my own little home seem like a closet full of things no one wanted anymore.

A few days later, that same friend appeared on my doorstep and spent the afternoon with me and the children. I was making a leek soup in the kitchen while she sat at the dining room table with my daughter when she expressed how much she loved being at my house. She let me glimpse that to her, she experienced the love of family and the blessed chaos of activity and motherhood that she longed to have for herself.... and I was left hiding my tears behind the kitchen wall, amazed that our witness to each other was such a blessing and learning that I really DID have cause to be thankful for what I have.

When I was in the working world, my witness was always important. As a Christian worker, you are faced with the worst of the world. Back when I was studying with Jehova's Witnesses, they gave me a great testimony to share with others that helped me to stay "out" of the world... Reasons to steer clear of being "everyone else" you work with.

Back then, the focus was on honesty, integrity, and hard work, which should be the staple of any employee experience where Jesus Christ is Lord. You do your job, go above and beyond, and you bless and serve, regardless of the cost to you personally. JUST LIKE IN YOUR FAMILIES.

Our call is to be "in " and not "of."

I didn't want to be the person who sat out on the company joke because it was slightly innapropriate or who steered clear of the company parties because they were too wordly for me. No way.... instead I gave my jobs the best that Christianity had to offer: a real work ethic. I found that if I truly dove into my work and made it a prayer I didn't have to worry about what dirty joke they were passing on the radios or on the company email, because I didn't have time to pay attention to those thing, I was too busy giving my bosses the best that I could. It took a long time for me to mature into that person, because in the beginning, it was easy to be the one who "couldn't participate," found everything offensive, and basically just sat back and sneered. No one wanted to become that kind of person, and that ethic worked against me. Once I began to really be "broken bread and poured out wine" in the workplace, that's when my witness was greatly improved and I found success at every turn: career success, yes, but especially evangelical success--- because to the world, social retardation is not desirable. But a bright, quick, positive, hard working, friendly person? One who is full of compassion and gentleness? One who speaks the truth in love?? Priceless.



Our witness is crucial. Ninety-nine percent of the people in religious forums across the world will tell you why they don't like evangelical Christians, flat out. I've heard the same answer over and over and over and over and over: "Christians are hypocrites."

Our witness solves that problem for people. Our witness is our best weapon against the darkness in the world. Our witness is there not to make us undesirable. It is there to make us the sweet fragrance of Christ to those who are saved and the scent of death to those who are perishing(11 Cor 2:15) in the hopes of not going to heaven alone.

No husband wants a wife who is cold, serious, and holier-than-him. No child wants a mother who is harsh, rigid, and unbending. No person wants a co-worker or employee who is distant, condesdending, and unfriendly. Our witness is everything..... if we REALLY BELIEVE the scriptures, then let us all pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance to help us BE the change we want to see in the world, and to start not with others, but with ourselves!