How big...or small...is your box?

I look at the outline of her face, in the glow of the sun, early morning, the small little nose, perfect little lips, she has already climbed in my arms, given me a good morning hug, now she is studying the television...I think back to the feeling I had the first time I held her big sister...

And I think about how big her little sister is getting....

And my thoughts turn back to the moment, as she sits there, not knowing what lies ahead of her, not knowing how hard the world may be, she just understands the moment, sitting next to her Aunt, cuddling on the sofa, watching TV. I have promised her and her sisters, as I have held them, I have whispered in their ears, "Im going to protect you, no one is going to hurt you." But I know those aren't promises I can keep. She will be hurt, her little sister will be hurt, I won't always be there to protect them. This week, I realized something, something I have been pondering on and mulling over for a while, we have done a disservice to our children by not teaching them to see how BIG our Lord really is. We have created a church full of people who have taken the Lord and placed Him in a box. We have tried to protect them, tried to help them fit into a cookie cutter mold so they look like everyone else, so their lives turn out like ours did or like we think they "should" turn out. We have turned to man-made doctrine, self-help books on raising children, dating, and relationships. We have neglected truth from scriptures, taken what is said from the pulpit or from the youth retreat as truth, and what has happened is they turn around, are in their thirties, still single, or already divorced, and they feel like they are abnormal, not accepted, and are determined there must be something wrong with them. 

As I sit there, I am still thinking through all of this. My mind wanders to the sovereignty of the Lord. We are quick to say the Lord is sovereign, the Lord can do all things, can be all things. We are quick to accept certain aspects and principles of Scriptures, but when it comes down to truly believing can the Lord do ANYTHING and the Lord is over ALL THINGS, we make exceptions. The lid was blown off my box 4 and 1/2 years ago when my niece passed away at 7 weeks old, it was at that moment where I came to understand either the Lord is in control of ANYTHING and ALL THINGS that happen in life, either He is completely SOVEREIGN, or someone else has just as much power in my life as He, and I have no doubt Scripture points to the absolute, complete sovereignty of the Lord. I continue to think, "How big, or how small, is my box?" But then I stop, and I think the real question is "What in my life is causing me to put the Lord in a box?

I begin to put the Lord in a box, when I begin to put man, man-made doctrine and thought, and what the church feels I should be or where I should be in life over what the Lord says in His Word. When I begin to take what the Preacher is saying as truth and not challenge it with what the Word says; when I put my acceptance in others and others opinions and not in the Lord's acceptance. When I put more value in the doctrine of the church and the denomination I attend, over the Word of God itself and the church as the whole and complete unified bride of Christ. When I allow the Lord to be sovereign in some areas of my life (work, career, buying houses, buying cars) but not in other areas of my life (finances, family, choosing friends, wisdom in friendships, dating, meeting people, relationship advice). When I limit the Lord's ability to move and work in my life, because I am basing my life on everyone else's lives. When my world becomes smaller, my Lord becomes smaller. 

The Lord wants us to realize how GREAT and BIG He is and stop putting Him in these little boxes. Is theology important? YES!! Is doctrine important? YES!! But are we leaning on doctrine or are we leaning on Scripture? Are we teaching our children the Bible or are we teaching our children the Preacher? Are we seeking the Lord's will or just knowledge of the Lord? I have a burden now, an even greater one, to show my children and my friends this truth in Scriptures...our journeys are our uniquely and distinctly our own! The Lord can use ANYTHING and ANY means because HE IS SOVEREIGN. You will be hurt, you will have hard times, but the Lord is still God and He is still bigger. I want them and everyone to see scripture for scripture not for what they hear on Sunday. I want them to accept every believer (and nonbeliever) single, married, children, no children, different races, different cultures. I want to teach them the true Kingdom of Christ here on the earth, and if their journey turns out different than someone else's then thank the Lord He saw something in them He didn't see in another person. If they end up on the mission field, single and feeding orphans, if they end up with careers that take them around the United States, if they meet their spouse on match.com or by other nontraditional means, if they end up married at 20 and with children at 22, if they end up with no money and barely making it or with millions, whatever journey the Lord has for them, I will be thankful because I know that He has directed their steps and their paths and they will not go a day without knowing He is Lord over ALL. And I thank the Lord we are all unique and amazing creations of our Creator.

So instead of whispering to my nieces as they sleep, "I will not let anyone hurt you." I am going to start whispering, "I will not let you go a day you do not know how BIG our God is. I want your journey in life, your love story, your life's story to be whatever the Lord wants, and I will do whatever it takes to show you, how big, how faithful, and how great He is!"

I look out the window the sun is shining brighter, I look back at her, she's moved to the floor, sun is still shining off her face, a ray of hope, that her journey will be her own, that no matter what happens in life, whether she is single, married, has financial difficulties, has children, has a career, or is a stay at home mom, her journey is in the hands of her Creator, and while she may at moments put the Lord in a box, I am now determined she will never go a day without knowing "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV) and without grasping "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:17-21 ESV) This journey is our own....and the Lord wants our boxes to be flung be wide open, in fullness, and in blessing!