A Lesson To Be Learned In Nit Picking

What's up with the Downs? Last week some pesky little bugs jumped into our hair...literally. Half of the Downs household ended up with little nits, the eggs that lice lay, in our hair. Of course they were sweet eggs because they were from some precious friends of ours, but we wanted to get rid of them as fast as possible.

After shampooing with chemicals to kill the nits, bleaching every nook and cranny, ferociously vacuuming, pulling every article of clothing, bedding, rugs, etc. and piling it high in a corner to be fed to the washer turned to "hot water" we gals sat in the master bathroom (it had the brightest lights) to begin the long process of nit picking.

Not until this last week did I understand the phrase, "You are so nit picky". Now, I get it-someone who finds every minutest thing to be critical of. We looked through every particle of every hair of the four of us Downs who had these critters not wanting to miss one egg. We wanted to be extra safe and pulled each hair out that had a nit. Over the course of 5 days, approximately 7 hours were devoted to looking at each strand of our luscious nitty locks.

What's the lesson? PATIENCE! Multiple times a day this thought circled through my mind, whether I was putting in the 20th load of laundry, vacuuming for the 7th time, or picking nits--

"LORD, You are so very patient with me!!! Thank You! You take time to pick all the nits out of my hairy soul and do it with such love, and patience. Never do You get riled up if you find another nit, but You are the God who sanctifies and You promise that you will sanctify me through and through so that all of me is kept blameless. My heart is grateful to you the God Most High for teaching me about Yourself through a little sticky bug."

We are lice free and grateful. My heart is filled with gratitude that I have a washer and dryer and access to lice shampoo, because so many live with these critters, because they don't have the means to get rid of them.

I simply need to be still for chunks of time while the Lord sifts through my bugs, so I can praise Him with purity.

May God Himself, the God of Peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Blessed Beyond Measure

The Kenya team! The Klassen Family, The Downs Family, Brad & Jen Bell, Loni Weber, & Charlotte Teisinger.

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be the head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 1:22-23

Today I can't help but proclaim the magnificence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the Head of us, those who believe Him, and we are His Body! I am in awe and humbled that those who trust Jesus are "the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way". I have seen this in action countless times and have been marveling at how His Body works and moves as His hands and feet and arms and toes and legs and nose. We look to our Head for all direction and ability to do anything for His glory.

13 of us in the Body have the privilege of going to Kenya in 40 some days as the feet, sharing the gospel with others as we walk along, while over 50 precious people have personally given sacrificially (through prayer, encouraging words, and financially) to the Downs household to enable us to go share the love of Jesus. I would guess a couple hundred people have been involved in one way or another for our whole team. I wish we could take every single one of them with us because of how instrumental each have been in enabling us to go. We couldn't go without the Church functioning as the Lord designed it.

So this morning my heart is soaring and blessed beyond measure. I try to calculate it and simply can't wrap the measuring tape around it, because it is eternal Kingdom work and the Lord works miraculously! Some things we just can't put in words. I know with confidence that everything is for the Lord's name and fame.

We are honored to serve the One who gave His life for us.