As I prepare for my return to the Land of a Thousand Hills, my mind is racing.  Thoughts of the Kingdom are coming and going, and crossing paths on their way in and way out.  Ideas are becoming linked- they are explaining one another and making light of those that have rested in darkness for so long.

Truth comes to life and beauty radiates as the light Jesus promises is uncovered from the dusty lampshade of confusion.

I am a Proverbs 31 Woman.

For many months now, I have prayed along with my best friend that I would truly understand what it means to be a Proverbs 31 woman.  Beyond that- I prayed I would learn to walk in it.  This has become even more weighty in my mind over the past few weeks as I have thought about my return to Rwanda.  So many questions entered my world of secret thinking.

Am I  really a Proverbs 31 woman?

What does this mean?

Can I really be a good wife if I am running off to Rwanda?

As I began my day, I asked the Lord if He would help me understand more about being a Proverbs 31 woman.  He promptly responded:

“YOU ARE A PROVERBS 31 WOMAN.”

In attempts to understand the words the Lord spoke, I opened my bible and intentionally pondered each verse of the passage.  I was overwhelmed as I reached verse 20.

SHE EXTENDS HER HAND TO THE POOR, AND SHE STRETCHES OUT HER HANDS TO THE NEEDY.

God whispered to me and said, “Don’t you realize that you are doing just that?”

I actually found myself a little confused.  I naively pondered what He could be talking about.  It was then that I realized He was speaking about my journey to Rwanda.  I am going there to work with my hands in delight, to extend my hand to the poor, and to stretch out my hands to the needy.

Yes, there is more to being a Proverbs 31 woman than just this, but it certainly cannot be ignored.

The man the Lord has prepared for me from the beginning of time will notice me because his heart is for a Proverbs 31 woman.  He will see my heart for the poor and the needy, and he will recognize that as a characteristic of a Proverbs 31 woman.

I am humbled and honored that I can rest in the truth spoken by my Daddy.  I do not have to be anxious or concerned that I am tarnishing my character as a Proverbs 31 woman.  Instead, I am experiencing the fulness of what it means, and doing so with great delight.

The Woman Who Fears the LORD

¹⁰ An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
¹²She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
¹³She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
¹⁵She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
¹⁶She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
²⁰She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
²¹She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
²²She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹“Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.

]]> http://lauramichellereed.com/2011/12/09/she-extends-her-hands-to-the-needy/feed/ 0 lauramichellereed 301684_2502801772761_1334473013_4475637_1467502440_n http://lauramichellereed.com/2011/10/21/my-latest-newsletter/ http://lauramichellereed.com/2011/10/21/my-latest-newsletter/#comments Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:22:01 +0000 lauramichellereed http://lauramichellereed.wordpress.com/?p=311 ]]>

I don’t believe so.

It is, however, possible to offer a small glimpse of the beauty of the life lived within that time.

Rwanda. 

How can a country that has been through so much heartache and pain offer such beauty?  How can a country that was completely devastated offer such splendor?  It must be noted that the Rwandan people are perhaps, by nature, the friendliest people alive.  It also must be noted that the Rwandan people have every reason to abandon all trust, not only in one another, but in those who travel to Rwandan from foreign nations.  What reason has this nation to be moving in the radiance of abundant beauty?

Overflowing grace of God.

God is ALIVE in Rwanda.  I can feel Him wherever I look.  I can feel Him on the ground beneath my feet.  I can feel Him in the wind against my face.  I can feel Him in the sun shining down on my shoulders.  I can feel Him in the warmth of a child’s hand as I walk down the street.  I can feel Him in the smile of a widow at the bus stop.  I can feel Him as I wake and as I sleep.  God is occupying every bit of space within this nation.

If He is here, and He is, He obviously has a plan and a purpose.

His plan, purpose, and fire will transform this nation.

How will this happen?  What will He do?  Where will He begin?

.THE CHILDREN.

When I look into their eyes, I am undone.  Not because they are beautiful, though they are, but because when I look into their eyes, I find myself gazing into the fiery eyes of Jesus Christ.  His eyes are love.  His eyes are joy and compassion.  His eyes are mercy and grace.  And I am completely undone.

His love for the children is far greater than we, in our fleshly state, can ever imagine.  He wants to transform each and every one of them so they may be ready to change the world.  They will go to nations.  They will preach the gospel to the ends of the Earth.  They are poor, but so rich in all they have to offer.  The smiles on their faces carry the love of Jesus in a way that cannot be described.  It’s just a matter of time before they impact this life in a way that will never be forgotten.

These are the children that will make a mark which cannot be erased.  Get ready, world.  The children of Rwanda are about to do something great.  There won’t be a single corner of the Earth that is untouched.  The love of God, through the Rwandan children, is relentless.

It is exploding.

No one is safe.

Photo by Dar Rice

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I promised to be consistent with my blogging, and failed to follow through.

Please, dear ones, forgive me and enjoy that which I have to share with you.

.RWANDA.

It all started in 2009.

 God told me to go to Mozambique.  So, I said “Yes, Lord, but why?”  And He said, “I’ll show you.”  So I said, “Okay.  Not my life, but Your’s.  I’ll go.  Do with me what you think is good and right.”  And a year later, I was on my way.  While I was in Mozambique, God said to me, “Laura, Rwanda is your nation. You can have it.  I will give you My heart for those people- if you want it.” I had never even heard of Rwanda.  I didn’t even know where it was on the map.  I had no idea that nearly one million people were slaughtered there in mass genocide.  But God was faithful to reveal His heart for those people to me, and then I knew why I had said yes.

 God is in the business of restoration in Rwanda, and He is allowing me to be a part of that.  He is opening the door for me to be a part of the establishment of His kingdom among the village children there.

He has given me great vision- vision that is beyond me- beyond my existence.  It’s not about what I can do or what I experience.  It’s about paving a way for the future generations in Rwanda and giving God the glory.  It’s about raising up the children there, so they can blaze trails for their children and grandchildren long after I am gone.  It’s about the years of pain and heartache being redeemed, and the fatherless experiencing the love of the one true Father.  It’s not about being known.  It’s about loving the unknown.  It’s all about the love of Jesus, being revealed to His precious little ones.  I am just a woman of God, willing to deliver that package, willing to boldly, yet humbly lay my life before the Lord and say Yes. Send me.

I am a messenger.  I am not the message.

The message is Jesus Christ.  The message is His love for you and me.  The message is His sacrifice.

If we, for a second, believe that our calling- our journey is about us, then we have fallen into a false belief.  We don’t deliver the message for the purpose of saying we have done so.  We don’t pray for another for the sake of having a great story to tell.  We don’t live our lives for fame or for riches.  We don’t live for the sake of the knowledge of accomplishment.

Instead, it is for the glory of God and God alone.  It is for His glory that we deliver His message.  It is for His glory that we obey.  It is for His glory that we follow His lead and pray for those who cross our path.  It is for His glory that we live.  It is for no other reason that we walk the path and fulfill the journey that He has prepared for us.

I say all of this for the sole purpose of conveying this message:

It is for the glory of God and God alone that I have said yes.  It is for His glory that I have chosen, by my own will, to lay my life down before Him and follow the path that He has paved for me.

A beautiful work is soon to be accomplished in Rwanda.

To God alone be the glory.

Love your neighbor.

What if we did these things, in this order, at every given moment?  What if there was never a time when we weren’t making this our priority?  What if we realized the impact this would have on our lives and the lives of those around us?

What if our number one concern was loving God?  Don’t you think we would be entirely consumed in His presence?  Our thoughts of Him would never cease.  Our desire to be with Him would only grow as we discovered more of His beauty.  We wouldn’t be able to ignore that desire.  We would dig deeper into the depths of His love, and do so passionately.

And in that depth, we would certainly understand more of who God is.  We would know the things that bring Him pleasure and delight.  Wouldn’t we be enthralled as we discovered what moves His heart?  We would be amazed at the simple beauties that awaken His heart to His children.

In the depths of that love, wouldn’t we, knowing His love for us, long to please His heart?  We would know the things that make His heart rejoice.  We would, seeing what brings Him pleasure, certainly long to behave accordingly.  Knowing that He loves to give us our desires, we would indubitably want to do the same for Him.

Could we deny His love for all of His children?  We certainly could not.  So then, knowing that our neighbors are His children, we could not deny His love for them.  We could not deny His desires for them to be treated as righteous sons and daughters.  We would not be able to deny the simple yet intricate beauties, that each one possesses, that so move His heart.

And if we, in the depths of His love and loving Him, long to please His heart, which is abounding in love for His children, wouldn’t our love for our neighbor flow abundantly from that place?  We would see how our brother moves the heart of the one we love, and treasure him because God made him that way.  If we know that God delights in the gentleness of our sister, shouldn’t we delight in that also?  What reason have we, consumed in the depths of His heart, to not delight in that which brings Him joy?

So then, if we find ourselves struggling to love our neighbor, perhaps we should return to step one.  In that place, it is impossible for us to deny His love for our neighbor.  It is also in that place that we are reminded of the sweetness of loving that which He loves.  In that intimate place, there is an undeniable desire to please His heart.

Honoring that which He loves does just that.

Love God.  Love your neighbor.

Every time it rains, I am entirely convinced that Jesus made it happen just for me.  As much as I love the glorious sunshine, there’s just something about a steady rainfall that does wonders for my Spirit.

Earlier today I was looking out the window, gazing on the beauty of the rainfall, and I couldn’t stop thanking God for blessing me.

Of course, He’s always speaking to me.

It’s no surprise that He began to speak to me about the spiritual implications of the rain.  I mean, He wanted me to know why my spirit thrives so intensely on something.

“What would happen if it never rained?” He asked.

I was overwhelmed by my own sense of urgency to answer the question and prove why rain is so wonderful.

If it never rained, the grass would never grow.  In fact, it would all wither and die away.  If it never rained, flowers would never bloom.  Our world would lack so much beauty!  If it never rained, the air could never be cleansed of all its impurities.  If it never rained, seeds that were planted would never grow.  If it never rained, we would never rejoice in the sun.

“Exactly,” He replied.

The smile on my face began to grow.  It grew so big that it hurt.  I was overcome with joy as I realized the point He was making.

If we never went through storms in life, we would never grow.  Beautiful things would never bloom in our lives.  If we never had to walk through the rain, we would never be cleansed.

If the rain never fell on us, we would never have a reason to be thankful for the calm sun.

In order for seeds that have been planted to be able to grow, our spirits must be watered.  The Lord plants seeds in our lives.  He teaches us lessons, and we say, “Hallelujah! Yes Lord!”  So often, though, when the time comes for the seed to be watered, we say, “Why, Lord?  I don’t want to go through something difficult.”  This is entirely necessary, though, as a seed cannot grow if it is never watered.

If the Lord always taught us lessons, or planted seeds, yet we never were given the opportunity to put that lesson into practice, or let our seed grow, what would be the point?

There would be no point at all.

So I stand arms wide open with raindrops running down my face.

Thank you, Father, for the rain.

I have experienced this on a very deep level during the most recent season of my life.  The rainfalls have been heavy and the ground has seemed far too dangerous to tread upon.  In these times, it seems the best thing to do is say, “Yes, Lord, I’ll get wet and walk through the mud.”

… because here’s the thing…

We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can certainly control how we respond to our circumstances.  A year ago I would not have believed this if you had said it to me.  I would have denied our ability to handle our emotions.  I would have said that our emotions are beyond us and beyond our control.  As it turns out, we are totally in control of our reactions.

Who knew?

This means that we have a choice to make.  We can choose, in our circumstances, to respond in the truth of the goodness of God, or we can choose not to respond in that truth.  Either way, the reactions we express are absolutely a choice.  And we each have the ability to choose.

This does not mean that we don’t experience our emotions.  Our God is an emotional God.  He experiences sadness, happiness, and anger just as we do.  He created us with the ability to experience emotion.  So what this does mean is that within our emotions, we choose to believe the truth.

I am sad, Lord, but I know You are comforter, and I am choosing to believe You are with me now.

I am lost and confused, but I know You are my guidance, and I am choosing to believe Your ways are perfect.

I am hurt and in pain, but I know that in all things You are good, and I am choosing to believe You have my best interest in mind.

I believe that when we realize our ability to make this choice, on a daily basis, to respond to all things in the truth of the goodness of the Lord, that we can take one more step towards the fullness of the beauty of who God is.

Will you make the choice?

]]> http://lauramichellereed.com/2011/04/12/the-choice-is-mine-the-choice-is-yours/feed/ 1 lauramichellereed http://lauramichellereed.com/2010/12/04/blessed-are-the-meek/ http://lauramichellereed.com/2010/12/04/blessed-are-the-meek/#comments Sun, 05 Dec 2010 02:34:37 +0000 lauramichellereed http://lauramichellereed.wordpress.com/?p=260 Continue reading →]]>

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for they so persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Wow.  What a verse.  How do you begin to unveil the many implications of such a powerful statement declared from the mouth of such a mighty man?  The more I meditate on this, the more astonished I become.  The very essence of the heart of God is so beautifully presented in just ten words.

Heidi Baker made a beautiful and powerful statement when she said this, “The point is not you- the point is Him.”

Selfish ambition is the mortal enemy of our spirits.  God cannot use selfish ambition or bless vain conceit.  God wants to use humble hearts.  There is a reason that the first of the beatitudes is this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  We must be in complete awareness of our desperation for Jesus.  Becoming poor in spirit requires a posturing of the heart through which you realize that by no act of your own can you obtain riches that satisfy your life to the fullest.  Instead, you are fully yielded and totally dependent on God alone.  The hunger, humility, and desperation of this posture is irresistible to God.

I believe that it is when we receive the revelation of being poor in spirit that blessing is able to flow abundantly in our lives.  It is then that we are able to also receive the revelation of being meek.

So just what does it mean to be meek?

To be meek is to be submissive.  It is to be entirely yielding to the voice and command of the Father.  To be meek is to be obedient, unresisting, and unprotesting.  To be meek is to be like a lamb to the slaughter; to be self-effacing, mild and gentle.  It is to walk in complete humility.

My sweet friend John explained humility to me in the most clear and precise way I have ever heard.  He said to me, “Laura, humility is not thinking less of yourself.  It is thinking of yourself less.”  Humility is considering others before yourself.  It is doing everything with pure motives and never out of selfish ambition.  This does not mean that you never look out for yourself, it means you first look out for others.  To be humble is to consider the interests of others before you consider your yourself.  It is God’s desire for ministry.

It is in the lowest place, in complete humility, that God’s river flows most abundantly.  When you are in this place, you can be truly immersed in the heart of God.  When you are truly immersed in the heart of God, supernatural fruitfulness can flow from your life.

When you find yourself in this place, you will find yourself inheriting the Earth.  You may be wondering what that means.  I believe that what Jesus meant by this statement was this:  When we receive the revelation of being meek, God will entrust us with the people groups across the Earth.  These people, His possessions, are the true riches of the Earth.

Do you see why it is important for us to be meek?  Do you see how it is absolutely essential in order to inherit the Earth?

If inheriting the Earth means inheriting God’s children- from the richest of the rich to the poorest of the poor- then it is absolutely necessary for us to be able to handle His possessions just as He would.  We must be able to consider their interests before we consider our own.  We must be able to look out for them before ourselves, and do so with selfless ambition.

I’ve learned so much about this through my friend John who I mentioned earlier.  He walks in complete humility.  He honors others and considers their needs before his own.  He would go to the ends of the Earth to ensure that his friends have all they need.  It’s so cool to watch God bless him through this.  He’s impacting people all over the world- from Boulder, Colorado all the way to Costa Rica, he’s seeing lives transformed and hearts forever changed.

What a beautiful kingdom key.  Love others.  Honor them above yourself.

Try it out.  You just might find yourself inheriting the Earth.

Sweet John Fitch- Always blessing someone.

Never worry about numbers… Help one person as a time.

We don’t go out and love on the poor for the sake of saying we did so.  We don’t do it for the sake of being part of the latest great movement or revival.  We do it because we love the people.  We do it for their sake, never for our own.

And how should we love them?

I don’t believe there is any set way or established standard concerning loving the poor.  I do believe that loving the poor sometimes means putting aside our own desires and loving them in a way that they can receive love at that time.

So what does this mean?  It means that sometimes there should be a little less talk- a little less preaching.  Sometimes, in a specific moment, those words do not look like love to a person.  They look like forced religion.  They look like a banner that says, “I am talking to you for this reason only.”  In these times, it’s important to ask Holy Spirit whether or not you should say those words.  He might say no.  Picking up the pieces and playing a game of chess might feel like the greatest of all acts of love.  How so?  You are showing them they are valuable.  You are showing them they are worth your time, even if they have different beliefs.  You are showing them that you want to be with them, even if it isn’t according to your desires or standards.

One of the greatest poisons is worthlessness and lack of self value.  If we can bring the antidote by simply putting our desires aside and playing chess or a game of cards.. then what reason have we not to do this?  Once they know you truly care about them, they’ll surely want to hear what you have to say and they’ll surely want to know why you value them as you do.

And when they ask, you can give them the greatest reason of all.