Obscure service

Sometimes it is a challenge to keep an eternal perspective in the midst of our busy household. Today a friend sent me this story.I hope it encourages other hearts as it did mine this morning!!

Mary was studying her Bible quietly at her desk. A still, small voice began to speak to her.

"Mary?"

"Yes, LORD?" Mary had been walking with the LORD and recognized His still, small voice. Especially in His Word.

"Mary, what if I was to ask you to go to work for Me."

"Oh, yes, LORD." Mary answered anxiously. "To France, perhaps?" As she gazed at the globe on her desk, pointing a finger decidedly on Paris.

"Mary, what if I was to ask you to go to work for Me in an obscure place."

"Ah, yes, LORD." Mary sat dreaming while moving her finger down a bit. "Africa. The jungle..." Her mind wandered to the missionary stories she had read, "perhaps where Elizabeth Elliot worked."

"Mary, what if I was to ask you to work for Me in an even more obscure place."

"Hmmmm...even more obscure. South America, LORD? Or innermost China? Or perhaps Indonesia? Is that what you mean LORD?"

"Mary, what if I was to ask you to work for Me in a home."

"Ah, now I understand, LORD. A home for handicapped kids."

"Mary, what if I was to ask you to work for Me in an obscure home."

"An obscure home? Perhaps a home for orphaned children in Mexico or South America?"

"Mary, what if I was to ask you to work for Me in your own obscure home?"

"Here, LORD? Here?! All I do here is scrub, vacuum, wipe noses, wash clothes, sing lullabies, pray with toddlers, change diapers, cook meal after meal, sweep and dust, stretch one income, mop and mop; oh, and then over and over the very same thing again. Sometimes more in one day that I can count. This can't be the obscure home You mean, LORD!"

"Yes, Mary. This is the home. Will you do it for Me? For when you do it for the least of these, you do it for Me. Will you do it for Me, Mary?"

Big sigh. "No one is going to notice it, LORD. Not even the ones I am doing it for. None of them really even care, LORD. Everything I do, they undo. And then I have to do it all over again. Don't you think Paris is kind of obscure?"

Big Smile. "Mary, I have chosen you especially for this work in this specific place. I have Leaders and Warriors being raised here. I have wives of Leaders and Warriors being raised here. Will you wipe these noses for Me, Mary? Will you bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the LORD, Mary? Some day I may send them out to places like China, Indonesia, South America, Mexico, and yes, perhaps even Paris. Will you do this for me, Mary, in this obscure home of yours?

Spinning the globe gently, Mary bowed her head, "Yes, I will, LORD. Yes, I will."

"I'll do it through you, Mary. Keep coming to me for your strength. It is a very big job raising My Warriors and My Wives of Warriors; but I will walk you through it every step of the way."

Mary thought of her namesake, the mother of Jesus, raising her LORD and Savior in her own obscure home. "You are too awesome for me, LORD. You are too awesome for me."

I am thankful for the reminder that it is a privilege to to be serving in obscurity within the 4 walls of our home!
~Mama B~