Sense of Urgency

I want to start by saying that this is not the post I intended to write this week. If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans, right? I have no doubt that the Lord had a different message in mind for me to share this week than what I originally intended. I woke up Monday a little after 12:30 am to this nagging feeling telling me to get up and write. The feeling kept after me like a dog whining by your bed a little too early in the morning needing to be let outside. Get up and Write. When I first felt called to start this blog, I told my best friend, Lauren, how my grief was turning me into an evangelist. Lauren has always been one of the most supportive people in my life and we started to joke that BFF also stood for Billy (as in Graham) fans forever.

A commonly repeated advisement for the grieving is to find ways to serve others. With two young children at home and a worldwide pandemic going on, I assume I’m excused from going into town in my “free time” and volunteering at local organizations in person. I look at my writing as a way that I am able to serve others in this season of life. I have said multiple times before how thankful I am for the support of everyone who reads this and the opportunity to minister “alongside” Taylor. I am currently in a bible study that is going over the book of John. I will admit that I am a week behind in my study. Sunday night instead of skipping to the current lesson, I began to work through what I had missed the week before due to my inability to leave blank pages and go out of order. I am so glad I did.

As I took a closer look at the familiar story of the Samaritan Jesus meets at the well, I learned that this was the first account of an evangelist in the bible… and God used a woman! After realizing that the man she was talking to (or the Jew who was actually engaging in conversation with a Samaritan female) was the Messiah, this woman immediately began to spread the word that Christ had come. She did not wait until the next family dinner or bunco night with her girlfriends to begin evangelizing, but went straight back to town to declare that the Messiah was here. God used the Samaritan woman to be a witness for Jesus and calls for each one of us who believe to do the same.

Since losing my husband, I have thought a lot about other widows throughout history and how they coped with their loss. After Oswald Chambers died at 43, his wife, Biddy, put together her late husband’s notes, sermons and writings to publish multiple books in his name. She is the woman who shared his work with the world, including one of the most popular devotionals ever published, My Utmost for His Highest. After her husband, Alexander, was killed in America’s most infamous duel, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton worked tirelessly to preserve his work and writings. Taylor was not much of a writer, but I feel the same urgency to preserve his legacy and share his life because he lived for the glory of God.

This urgency is what woke me up in the middle of the night. God calls us to spread the gospel. Nobody knows the hour when the final trumpet will blow so we need to spread it now. I remember a handful of times growing up when I put off the chores my parents asked me to do. If the chores weren’t done when it was time, I always ended up being late to meet up with friends or missing a party entirely. Don’t let your loved ones miss out on the eternal party that is heaven because we ignored our Father’s call to spread the news that the Messiah has come. It can be awkward and uncomfortable to talk about faith sometimes, but I urge you to share yours with someone this week. Tomorrow is not promised. At the time when it doesn’t come for your loved ones, can you rest confidently knowing where they are? Did you do everything you could to share the message of salvation when you still had the time? Let go of feeling awkward and uncomfortable from talking to others about Jesus because he is the only man we need to worry about judging us.

Love, Molly

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