Give and Take by Melissa Driggers ~ @infieldsofgrace

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I was reminded recently of a powerful short story that I read a few years back. In preparing to write this post, I tried to find it but to no avail. The details I remember are this: a young girl and her mother were living in a poor and war-torn area, and the only Bible they had was badly ripped and damaged. They were at home one night, and the little girl came running to her mother, joyfully shouting “Mama, Mama, look at this…” She showed her Mama one of the badly torn pages, with only the first few words remaining from John 3:16, the rest having been torn out.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave…”  

The little girl was joyful, her eyes beaming and smiling brightly. “Mama do you see that? God loved us so much that He gave!”  

“Gave what?”, her mother asked.  

The little girl replied, “It doesn’t matter what He gave, Mama. Isn’t it just great that God loved us so much that He gave something to us!”

Oh, how I wish I had the heart of that little girl, in its unjaded, uncompromised ability to receive the powerful simplicity of ultimate truth.

Recently talking with a woman going through an emotional time of loss, she was crying out to understand why God takes away things (or people) that we love so deeply. Her loss was new and fresh, and even as a strong woman of faith, she was trying to find His perspective in it all. She knew and had always claimed the promise of Romans 8:28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)

Her dilemma was in trying to understand how He could have dangled something in front of her that she loved so much, only to take it away from her.

I’ve been there before, too. Have you?

Just as a loving parent gives his/her child gifts, so, too, is the act of love of taking away something that will harm his child.

Remember the little girl in the story…”God gave!”

God, how do I find and share the heart of this little girl, the content and utter joy of simply knowing and believing that God gives? What is this beautiful mystery of how You give to us sometimes through taking away that which can harm us?

Friends, in the quiet, listening prayer, this is what He speaks to my heart:

“It is because I gave so much, that I can take away.”

He gives bread so that He can take away our hunger.

He gives water so that He can take away our thirst.

He gives light so that He can take away the darkness.

He gives peace so that He can take away our fears.

He gives comfort so that He can take away our pain.

He gives rest so that He can take away our weariness.

He gives love so that He can take away our loneliness.

He gave His only son so that He could take away our sin.

God gave. God gives. 

Melissa is an itinerant speaker/teacher, blogger and author residing in the South.  She is single (although she prefers the term “unclaimed treasure”) and lives with her two children, Henry and Hannah, who are “technically” canine (ssshhhh… they don’t know they aren’t human).  Her vision and passion for ministry is to shepherd others to the grace, hope, healing, and restoration found only in Jesus Christ!  Through her own life journey, God has transformed her heart, and she has experienced the true meaning of “beauty from ashes”.

You can connect with Melissa through her web site, at www.infieldsofgrace.com  

VIDEO:  

Chasing Gratitude by Melissa Driggers

Photo by Melissa Driggers

Chasing Gratitude

I’m a problem-solver. It’s what I do.

As a Legal professional for over 25 years, I spend my workdays solving complex, high visibility challenges in our organization and with our Clients.  I am actually paid to plan for overcoming the worst case scenario!

In my real passion – ministry -- I am called and gifted to see things about others, often before they see them about themselves, so that God can use me to lead them to healing, peace, hope, and restoration.  Through the Spirit, I find the barrier and help them overcome it.

I’m a solution-finder to some of life’s toughest challenges. 

But wait…I have found a problem with that.  (Go figure.)

See, that doesn’t make me wise. Not at all.  It means that if I do not purposefully, intentionally live with a grateful heart, that my worldview is shaped by problems, and not by gratitude…and that is exhausting.  My eyes become fixed on the darkness before they see the light.  I had recently become tired, numb, passionless, and empty even though I was doing “Godly” things and finally had to cry out to the Lord to show me what was broken.  This burden of problems, this weight of conflict and pain, took residence on my shoulders and had flattened me physically, emotionally, and spiritually.   A weight He never, ever intends me to bear.  He so lovingly showed me that I was not living in gratitude, and gratitude always precedes joy.  Gratitude always precedes a miracle.

So as I write this, I am just a new babe in this season of chasing gratitude, and I still have much to learn.  Now obviously I am so deeply thankful to the Lord at times that it brings me to my knees.  But I don’t want the occasional – I want the perpetual.  I want my entire life to be a response of thankfulness for everything and everyone that God brings to me. 

Know what I’m finding out?  That it’s way harder than I thought it would be.  That if I’m really being honest here, I’m not such a grateful person.  About what I perceive to be the “big” stuff, yes.  But I have missed so many miracles and beautiful things for so long, because my eyes just weren’t open to them.  I am learning (slowly) to fix my eyes on the light.  To help retrain my thoughts and shift my paradigm, over the past month or so I have been posting “My Favorite Part of Today” short posts on my Facebook page.  That self-imposed accountability helps me to remember to be aware and present in every single moment of each day and to look for the good stuff.  The first few days were very hard but after a few weeks it has become a bit more natural, and I find myself looking for the smallest of blessings throughout each day. 

And this stubborn heart is gradually learning that this depth of gratitude that I seek can only exist when I truly allow myself to receive God’s love for me. 

One of the most beautiful depictions of gratitude is found in Matthew 8.  A leper approaches Jesus, stopping at the required distance. Then, he kneels before Jesus and begs for help.  We can imagine that the very sight of him was repulsive, and the smell of him was revolting. People probably gasped, and backed away in fear. Some bystanders likely commanded him to “get out” and clear the roadway, to not put anyone at risk.

Matthew writes that Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.  Then Jesus spoke the words: "Be clean . . . go show yourself to the priest."

Jesus healed ten lepers that day.  But only one came back to thank Him.  Only one caught himself in the midst of the celebration, and returned to Jesus. He reversed his steps, put his family on hold, put the priest on hold, and came back to cause of his celebration for one reason.  To give thanks.  

I want to be the one who comes back.  The one who puts everything else on hold until I’ve had my moment with God to give thanks.

If you read the story slowly, you’ll also see that there are two miracles here.  The leprosy was gone. That's the obvious one to see.  The other miracle is the touch of a loving, human hand.

Just today, you have likely touched more people in the past hour than this man had touched in years. Maybe a child has sat in your lap. Maybe you hugged one or a few people already, just today.

Not this man. He longed for a loving touch more than he longed for food. More than he needed water, he needed love. And before he was healed, while there was still tremendous risk, Jesus was willing to give him that touch.

Maybe today you feel like this man.  Maybe you feel that your presence before God is repulsive to Him because of what you have done.  Or maybe you feel shunned by others who have made you believe that you are not eligible for God’s favor.

It’s not true. 

No disease or abuse or affliction has scarred you so badly that Jesus won't touch you. Jesus is always willing to lovingly touch you, hold you, and restore you.

No sin or failure has made you unlovable or ineligible for grace. Jesus is willing to stand beside you, bless you, forgive you, and protect you, no matter what. 

No fear has disqualified you from His love or His presence. He stands waiting for you to allow Him to calm your anxiety in the way that only He can.

You see, this miracle of gratitude is the love of Jesus, for you. No exceptions. No conditions. No doubts.

Oh, how He loves us.  And for that, God, we are so very thankful.

 
Melissa is an itinerant speaker/teacher, blogger and author residing in the South.  She is single (although she prefers the term “unclaimed treasure”) and lives with her two children, Henry and Hannah, who are “technically” canine (ssshhhh… they don’t know they aren’t human).  Her vision and passion for ministry is to shepherd others to the grace, hope, healing, and restoration found only in Jesus Christ!  Through her own life journey, God has transformed her heart, and she has experienced the true meaning of “beauty from ashes”.

You can connect with Melissa through her web site, at www.infieldsofgrace.com

"Living Water" - By Melissa Driggers

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On some days, I can’t look at them.  Sometimes looking at my scars is just too much.

You see, my scars aren’t just surgical.  As a result of the surgery to remove the cancer from my leg, I developed a permanent, incurable disease that leaves me with deformity, daily unrelenting pain, and which has changed my way of life in radical ways.  On some days, the pain is so bad that I can’t walk at all.

Managing the illness is challenging, to say the least.  Through it, though, I have come to rely on His presence and the peace that passes all understanding with a depth that I never imagined possible before cancer and lymphedema.  For that, I am so very grateful.  

Yet even so, I can’t lie.  Living with this stinks, with a capital “S”.  I mean it really, really stinks.  Every day, it is a challenge to reclaim the sense of femininity I once knew.  Every day, I choose to fight for a sense of external beauty that now so often seems so far out of reach when I see my own reflection.   Friends, on most days, that emotional and spiritual battle is exhausting.

After trying many treatments to “manage” the disease to the point of utter emotional and physical exhaustion, including wearing a cast from hip to toe for 8 weeks (THAT was fun!), spending thousands of dollars on physical therapy and custom compression garments, and exercising for countless hours on treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes (all of which made it even worse), I recently found myself officially at the last resort… 

THE POOL!   (cue the scary music here…)

Y’all know what that means, right?  A bathing suit.  A bathing suit would never, ever be able to hide my scars, not to mention the fact that I’d be in a public pool, and the last time I checked, “public” means that other people would be there.   Seriously, God? 

Since my surgery two years ago, I had never exposed my leg in public and had zero plans to do so, but something inside me just knew that my answer was in the water.  So, I bought an athletic swimsuit and signed up for water exercise classes at the community aquatic center.  I swallowed ALL of my pride as I donned that swimsuit and showed up for the “Get Wet and Sweat” class a few days later.  My head was down, and I didn’t make eye contact with anyone, but I was there.  

It was a lot to take in at first – familiarizing myself with the movements, trying not to drown (ha!), chuckling inwardly at the cheesy background music, and conquering the many fears that I’d brought in with me.  The instructor guided us to do a high-intensity segment of “flutter kicks”, and all at once I realized that in the water I was able to move in ways that were not possible on the ground. 

Wait…how can this be?  In the water, my pain is gone.

In that moment, I completely lost it, and started sobbing.  I don’t mean a delicate little girly cry.  I mean full-blown-snotty-faced WEEPING, right in the middle of thirty men and women doing flutter kicks in the pool to the beat of “Build Me Up Buttercup”.  Worship comes at the most unexpected moments sometimes!  The freedom and healing that came in the water was more than I could comprehend, and my gratitude came pouring out (literally).  After years of suffering on “dry land”, for the first time, I felt whole.  For the first time, I was free.

In the pool that day, the metaphor of the ages had come to life in my heart.

Jesus spoke often of living water, as did the prophets, and water was the venue for miracles, teaching, and healing in the Bible.   One well-known example of this teaching was to the Samaritan Woman.  To her, he explained, “…Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14, NIV).  She had come to the well to fill up her jar with stagnant water from the cistern to drink, but instead she encountered Jesus, who knew everything about her and filled her empty heart with streams of fresh, flowing mercy and grace. 

The water in the pool doesn’t heal me.  His mercy in the water is what makes my broken, diseased body whole again.  

Only when I allow myself to come bare and exposed, showing my scars, at the end of myself, can he show me what is possible with Him. 

What are you struggling with today?  Whatever it is, He is knocking on the door of your tired and empty heart, waiting to fill it with the living water that gives new life.  Let Him. 

Melissa is an itinerant speaker/teacher, blogger, and author residing in the South.  She is single (although she prefers the term “unclaimed treasure”) and lives with her two children, Henry and Hannah, who are “technically” canine (ssshhhh… they don’t know they aren’t human).  Her vision and passion for ministry is to shepherd others to the grace, hope, healing, and restoration found only in Jesus Christ!  Through her own life journey, God has transformed her heart, and she has experienced the true meaning of “beauty from ashes”.

You can connect with Melissa through her web site, at www.infieldsofgrace.com

Click here to view a video of "Mercy" by Casting Crowns

What Do You Have? by Melissa Driggers



Photo By Amelia Grace Photography

As the daughter of a former commercial fisherman, I developed an appreciation for fishing from a very early age.   I have fond memories of fishing with Dad from as far back as I can remember, and I still enjoy those precious moments sharing the activity he loves best.  That fondness for fishing has also carried into relationships with friends, as we sometimes enjoy fishing with one another.   On a trip a few years back, I was fishing with a sweet friend, who was going through some really tough life challenges.  Lots of wonderful conversations happened as our lines bobbed up and down in the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico on a warm September night.  We had hiked (literally) to the unpopulated tip of the peninsula of Fort Morgan to fish at midnight, the prime time for catching redfish off of the point.  We had purchased some bait from the local shop – mullet, I think.  The shop owner had cut it for us into healthy, fleshy sections to use to catch the “big one” that we so hoped for.  (And yes, I can and do bait my own hook!)  After a couple of hours, we were reaching the end of our supply of bait, and we hadn’t caught one single fish.  We were so deflated, and our egos were wounded! 

We looked down at last piece of bait left.  Where the other sections had been healthy, meaty and substantial, this last one just looked sad - Small, scrappy, with broken flesh and seemingly useless.  My friend said, “It’s not even worth it.  That’s a horrible piece of bait.  Let’s just pack up and call it a night.”  Well, I wasn’t having it.  I had a gut feeling that God was up to something.  I knew how much this meant to my friend; something as simple as catching just one fish that night was going to be such an encouragement to a weary heart, and I also knew that God knew!  So, I prayed, and my friend baited that sad little piece of flesh onto the hook.  We cast all that we had left into the water.  Y’all, not seconds later, that pole bent like I’ve never seen a pole bend before.  My friend smiled and cried, and he said “Melissa, you need to feel this!”  He handed me the pole and felt the power of the catch.  It was amazing!  I could barely hold it.  I was NOT going to be responsible for losing that fish, so I carefully handed the rod back to my friend.  After a long time of reeling it in, there it was…a 32-pound redfish. 

That’s just how God’s grace is, isn’t it?  When we are at the end of ourselves with nothing left but a sad, broken, scrappy offering, He turns it into something beautiful, because His glory is so much greater than the offering.  It’s not about our perceived quality of what we cast into the waters.  The point of the offering is our faith. 

Remember the widow and the oil? 

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord.  Now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”  Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”  “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “Except a small jar of olive oil.”  (2 Kings 4: 1-7, NIV)

Elisha then instructed the widow to gather jars, so she borrowed jars (a lot of them!) from neighbors, and from that one little jar of oil in her home, the multitude of gathered pots and jars were filled.  Elijah then instructed her to sell the oil and repay her debt and told that her and her sons may live on what was left. 

Elijah had asked the widow a simple question: “What do you have?”  She was focused on what she did not have, but the prophet helped her to see that God wants our offering, whatever it may be, to be given in faith that the Lord will provide whatever we need.

So many times, I am focused on shame or worry over what I don’t have to offer the Lord, but the truth is that He promises that if we “have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matt 17:20-21)

Many times I have cried out to the Lord the confession that I am broken and my faith is small.  I often pray for Him to:

• Multiply my tiny bit of faith into bigger faith – and He always does
• Multiply my small desire for more of Him into an insatiable hunger for Him – and He always does
• Multiply my tiny bit of love for a challenging friend or family member into a greater love  – and He always does.

If you are weary today because your “bait-offering” doesn’t appear to be enough to offer to the King of Kings, take heart.  Search your heart, and give Him what you have. Then watch Him turn that sad, broken, wimpy offering into the miraculous.  He is faithful!  

Melissa is an itinerant speaker/teacher, blogger and author residing in the South.  She is single (although she prefers the term “unclaimed treasure”) and lives with her two children, Henry and Hannah, who are “technically” canine (ssshhhh… they don’t know they aren’t human).  Her vision and passion for ministry is to shepherd others to the grace, hope, healing, and restoration found only in Jesus Christ!  Through her own life journey, God has transformed her heart, and she has experienced the true meaning of “beauty from ashes”.

You can connect with Melissa through her web site, at www.infieldsofgrace.com.

Bethel Music - Come To Me (Official Music Video) from bethel-music on GodTube.