Uh-oh. Something is messing with me. I read this today:
"No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. THEN your salvation WILL COME like the dawn, AND your wounds will QUICKLY heal."

I have been searching for healing like someone dying of thirst in a desert. I have found 99% of the answer, I think, which is to go after God with everything I've got, simply to know Him more, not just to fix all my issues and fulfill all my wants. But I never expected the healing part to come in the latter 1% of what I found in the prophet's words. I have been looking for a quick fix and this is the first spot I've ever seen the Bible shoot it straight and tell me that my wounds won't just heal--- but heal QUICKLY!!! How? "By sharing food with the hungry and giving shelter to the homeless. By giving clothes to those in need and helping family that needs help." What on earth? What in the world does this have to do with healing my wounds?? I thought healing would come by someone rocking my hurts away??!! Give clothes to the poor?! I'm sorry to expose the raw selfishness and ugliness of my heart. I am ashamed, but it is what it is. If I am ever gonna become healthy and whole and like Christ, I'm gonna have to start somewhere.

It is embarrassing and humbling to admit that my major reason for wanting to give to the poor is selfish: to be healed. But if this is gonna have to be how it happens, then change me in the process. Maybe that's the point... as I get my eyes off my measly issues and focus onto what God considers a very important issue that is obviously near and dear to His heart. I'm just about all in. All I gotta do is run this by the husband. And knowing him, he'll be all in too.

If you don't think that God speaks in themes, well, He does. It's not coincidence. So after I read that verse, I read another blog today... and the title? "Christmas: Who's Birthday Is it Really?" Yes, you guessed... it was the blogger that I always blog about. Beth Moore said to pray to be like the people you admire, so I guess you can pinpoint who I'm praying to be like. Today Ann blogged about a tradition that started 10 years ago in her home when her oldest son challenged her Christmas theology right into a crisis of belief by asking the question: "If we sacrifice and give gifts to those we love on their birthday, then why don't we do that for Jesus on His birthday?"

It's been 10 years since the Voskamp families Christmas tree holds food for hungry children, clothes for unclothed babies, and water for those who can't drink... all in the Name of the real Birthday Boy. The gifts under their tree look a little different and none of them get opened on Christmas day, but are given away instead. I'm venturing out to say, but pretty confident, that salvation has fully come in the Voskamp home along with a quick dose of healing for that family. They have been healed by thinking about others. And in the meantime, those parents have given their children a gift of a lifetime: the gift of selflessness. That will keep them in good stead for the rest of their lives and allow salvation to thrive all their days long, with an ongoing salve for their wounds that come along the way.

It's time to do as Jesus suggested in His gospels: "Stop doubting and start believing." In other words, just do it. Don't think about. Don't mull over it. Don't get opinions or take a poll. Show immediate obedience. "This is how they will know they are My followers: by their obedience to Me and by their love for each other."