This One's For the Girls...

I woke up this morning thinking of a few points made by John Piper in His "Challenge to Women." He challenges us to be devoted to the glory of God; to trust the promises of Christ so fully that His joy and strength can't help but to overflow from our lives. That sounds like a beautiful woman to me, and I long to be her. But somehow I always fall short. My tendency is to do work for the Lord instead of doing work with the Lord. There's a Big Daddy Weave song that speaks against this saying,

"My dilemma is an issue of the heart, when I try to live for you without you."

I think a lot of times as women we disregard the state of being with the Lord so that we can focus more on our results. But the truth is that we can not produce good fruit without disciplining our own hearts to be still before the Lord. It is there in His presence that we are able to soak up His character. Aren't we called to love the things that Jesus loves? He loves the Church, He loves people, Scripture, prayer; and He loves the character of God.

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts above all else, for it is the wellspring of life. I think as women we often use this verse to help us in our "plight of singleness." We use it to ward off men and sometimes we even use it to challenge the men in our lives, saying things like "you have to help me guard my heart" etc. And I do think this verse applies to guarding our hearts against emotional damage that can come from relationships. However, this past week being at the shore with the beach, the sound, a pool, and a hot tub, there is a certain language that has risen up in my heart dealing with water (shocker). And the concept of the heart being a "wellspring of life" has struck me in a new way. Earlier I blogged about the passage in John 4 where Jesus tells us that the water He gives will become in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life. To me that is a beautiful promise. Not only does it promise satisfaction and eternal life for our own hearts but I think it also describes an overabundance that we might share this eternal life with others.

As women, we are physically designed to bear life in our bodies. But I think it is just as true that our hearts also long to give life. We love to talk about our feelings and know the struggles and joys of those we love. We take joy in practicing acts of love towards our friends and family because it is a refreshment to their lives and a glory to our Father in heaven. We have small groups, accountability groups, and best friends because we desire to point each other's hearts back to the life that is in Christ. But what would it look like if we trusted the promises of the Lord so fully that we not only had an abundance of life for ourselves but for others as well? A lot of times we try to offer life out of our own selves, but we end up discouraged and more empty than before because there is not life in that. But there is a "wellspring of life" in Christ. The challenge I want for myself is to be the kind of woman that dwells in that wellspring because she knows that is her only source of life for her own heart and for others. Andrew Peterson sings a song about a family that

"walked in the rain of His mercy-
let it soak them down to bones.
They'd dance in its rivers and splash in its streams as they'd go."

Girls, let's be the kind of people who walk daily in the rain of God's mercy because our hearts fully trust in its life. And let's allow ourselves to be so satisfied that we can't help but to dance and splash and invite others to join us.