Keep it Simple (Sabbatical Post)

 

I could have finished this line “keep it simple” with another word (KISS). I’m sure you’ve heard it before. But I’ve chosen not to. I’ve heard it more throughout my life than I’d care to mention and believe that it is an unnecessary addition to this phrase.

 

???????????????????????????????However, I have a little book on my shelf called Smart Women Keep it Simple by Annie Chapman and Maureen Rank. I’ve read it several times through the years…you can tell by the markings and the condition of the spine. But it has been years since I’ve read it.

 

So with my new, crazy schedule, perhaps it is the perfect time to pull this little gem off the shelf and re-read these words.

 

There are a couple of earmarked pages. Those stories or concepts that I wanted to return to visit. And as I read through one section, I was thankful for my forethought of wanting to remember this particular story.

 

It was of an older Russian woman who was a faithful believer of Christ. Multiple sclerosis had ravaged her body and she wasn’t able to do much, but what she accomplished was astonishing.

 

Each morning, her husband would prop her up on the couch, place a typewriter in front of her and with one finger, this devoted woman translated Christian books or the Bible into the Russian language.

 

The author of Smart Women Keep it Simple says, “Every other Christian in the city was watched by the secret police. But because she had been sick so long, the police took no interest in this woman, and she could work undetected.”[i]

 

And here’s another quote from the book. Corrie ten Boom was interviewing the husband of this Russian woman and this is what he said of his wife. “Not only does she translate these books, but she prays while she types. Sometimes it takes a long time for her fingers to hit the key, or for her to get the paper in the machine, but all the time she is praying for those whose books she is working on.”[ii]

 

What obstacles this woman overcame to be a servant of God. She lived in a country where being a Christian was illegal. Her body had betrayed her. However, nothing was able to stop her from doing what God called her to.

 

Annie Chapman goes on to say this about limitations. “Life puts limitations on us; no one is without them. But once we accept those limitations, God is free to use us in our weakness to glorify himself.”[iii]

 

If we view our limitations as to what we are able to do for God’s Kingdom, we are putting handcuffs on God. Our limitations must not be God’s limitations. Tweet this!

 

The Apostle Paul knew limitations. His thorn in the flesh kept him from becoming conceited, but it certainly did not keep him from fulfilling God’s plan through him. Paul came to the understanding that it was only through God’s grace that he was able to become powerful. Paul also understood that God was to be glorified in all that he did.

 

Take a look at Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV). “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

 

What a wonderful way to look at the difficulties of our lives. Whether it is physical, emotional, financial, persecutions, hardships, insults, weaknesses or a busy schedule, as we allow God to work in our weakened lives, we will be strong.

 

We take the relying on ourselves and place it in God’s hands. Capable hands that are able to carry us through the difficulties, trusting that He will deliver us on the other side. And through it all, we must give Him the glory.

 

I know others have much more difficulties in their lives than I do. I’ve got it pretty good in comparison, I know that. But still, in the midst of my tough days, when I give it over to God, He is able to help me through it. And for that I am thankful.

 

So today as you’re going through the motions of this life, please stop to ask God to be in the middle of it. Ask Him to give you strength. Ask Him to get you through it. He has promised that He will. Accept that promise as your own and know how strong you really can be through Him.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

[i] Smart Women Keep it Simple, Annie Chapman and Maureen Rank, Bethany House Publishers, 1992, pg. 153

[ii] Smart Women Keep it Simple, Annie Chapman and Maureen Rank, Bethany House Publishers, 1992, pg. 153 – As told in Tramp for the Lord, Corrie ten Boom with Jamie Buckingham, (Jove Books, 1976)

[iii] Smart Women Keep it Simple, Annie Chapman and Maureen Rank, Bethany House Publishers, 1992, pg. 153

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