Jesus is in the small stuff

I'm a day late, but here is my Five Minute Friday post!  Today's word prompt is Small.

One November, when I was about 20, we had a very well known minister visit our church and talk about his recent work in Russia.  He was a stateside preacher, but did do a lot of missions work as well, and missions was my heartbeat.  While he was talking about his work in Russia, where he was distributing coats to people who badly needed them, I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me, in a still small voice, to give my brand new coat to him at the end of the night for his next trip.  He wasn't asking for coats, and I didn't think I could even get close enough to him to give it to him.  

Let me backtrack a little here.  I was 20, in my first apartment, and barely making it.  I saved my money to buy this beautiful emerald green coat at a fancy store in town.  It cost me about $150 in 1993.  I was making about $5 an hour, so this coat was nearly a weeks wage for me.  To give this coat up would mean I'd freeze in our frigid Gulf Coast Texas air.  HA!  The bigger issue was that I thought it would be so insignificant and that really, who was I to approach this well known preacher to give my coat.  I thought surely he'll laugh and I'll be embarrassed.

Here's the kicker.  I didn't obey God.  It is the fist time I clearly remember saying "I can't do what you've asked me to do."  First, I felt too small, too insignificant to make a difference.  Second, I made God too small to make a difference through me.  

Jesus is in the small stuff, y'all.  He's in the big stuff, too.  Often times we get stuck in the small stuff thinking it doesn't compare to the big stuff.  But you know what?  It all matters.  We all matter.  YOU matter, and so do I.  Jesus wants to be in the middle of our small stuff just as much as He wants to be in the middle of our big stuff.  

He uses the small stuff to teach us big things about Him, about our Heavenly Father, and about the Grace that abounds.  Jesus often used parables and teachings about using examples of small things and how they make a big impact.  One example of the small thing becoming big was the Parable of the Mustard Seed.  

Matthew 13:32 "It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

I think of the gospel as a mustard seed.  It starts out small when we hear it, and as we grow in our knowledge of Christ, and in our faith, so that seed grows until it becomes a tree.  Then, when we have grown into spiritual trees, we offer shade and refuge to unbelievers with the hope that is in us.  

Don't despise small beginnings.  God wants to use us right where we are.  He'll use our small gift of $25 for the community center in Maubane, South Africa, and He'll use your smile toward a rude person, and He'll use our $5 McDonalds gift card to the homeless guy on the street corner, and He'll use our teaching moments as mothers, and He'll use us in the grocery store, at the bank or at the park.  He is waiting for us to just say YES.  Here I am, Lord.  Send me.  Use me.  Even when I feel insignificant and small, I trust you, and know you can use me.

I've gone over the five minutes this week.  I'm just really passionate about this.  Don't despise small beginnings, middles or ends.  There is so much more I wanted to write about this, but I want to end with a prayer today.

Father, Thank you.  Thank you for using us for your glory.  Thank you for showing us that we are not too small for you.  I pray that each person who reads this post will be encouraged to go all out for you whether you have opened the door for the big things or for the seemingly insignificant things.  I ask that you would put boldness in each one of us to trust that you are in the midst of our small stuff just as much as you are in the big stuff.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

*I still have that emerald green coat sitting in the back of my closet and have not worn it in over 15 years.  It's hard for me to admit that because I do very easily give things away.  I use that coat as a reminder to hold loosely, and listen closely.  God speaks softly most of the time.