Gathered at the Table

There is an old table in my dining area that is in desperate need of some TLC. The top is wearing evidence of meals and memories from years gone by. Each morning, noon and evening my little family gathers there, bowing our heads and hearts to give thanks and enjoy yet another meal.  Gathering at the table, this table, is something for years I have enjoyed with my parents, sister and brother. Dad sitting at the head of the table and my sister and I trying to figure out how to get out of eating lima beans yet again.

So many memories I have around the table.  Just the other night I had the opportunity to gather around a table with a few beautiful sisters in Christ whose hearts are more radiant than even their smiles.  We shared a nice meal on beautiful china, laughing and sharing together in sweet fellowship. It is a picture I will not soon forget.  I'm not one to easily open up and share my struggles, frustrations or fears.  But there was just something about this table, these women.

As we read Scripture and shared gifts of Thanks to our great God, we began to see how the world had crept in, ever so craftily, and robbed some of their offerings to our King.  My mind and heart raced to the twenty-third Psalm, words from the shepherd king.

You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings. ~ Psalm 23:5

This feast, it's for me - prepared in hard places.  It is offered in the place where the world, The Enemy, and my flesh are present - in the daily, small things and in the extraordinary, grand things.

Life.

It is the body and blood of Christ broken and poured out for me.  This feast, where I come to give thanks, and live thanks, for that which was broken and poured out for me, is the extravagant grace of Christ. An invitation to invite others to come. Opportunity to hold the gates of praise open that others may be drawn into His presence.

Many times lately, I have seen the evidence of stolen praise. Honestly, I have lived a robbed life. Robbed of seeing the gifts of thanks that surround me - because of my own evil desires. Robbed of others with whom to offer these gifts - because of my own fears, frustrations and struggles. As James wrote to the persecuted church he clearly lays out what true religion, religion in the eyes of God, looks like.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. ~ James 1:27

Oh that you and I would refuse to let the world corrupt us! That we would not be drawn back from His table.  That our living would be a thanks offering to Christ for Him - His life, His love, His offering, His grace, His friendship, His mercy and the list goes on and on.

Sitting around that table with those women, there was just something indescribable. There was a moment, an offering, a steadfastness that I cannot explain.  As Christ took upon Himself the role of the servant, stooping to wash the feet of His closest friends and one who would betray Him, then serving the meal of the portrait that was truly yet to come, I see community in a whole new light. It is an opportunity to offer to Christ, with others, praise and thanksgiving, inviting those who have not yet refused the world to see glimpses of Christ, tasting His goodness. And sometimes it is inviting back those who have felt the corruption of the world even after experiencing Christ's goodness, reminding them where they belong, at His table.

Whether you gather around a dining table with friends or in the comfort of your living room, driving down the road, or wherever you may be, my prayer for you today is that you would do as the Psalmist says:

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
    Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
    for those who fear him will have all they need.
Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
    but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

~ Psalm 34:8-10

Taste His goodness, take refuge in him, trusting that in Him you will lack no good thing.

The Ministry of Motherhood

The last 12 months have been some of the toughest I've had to face, possibly ever.  I knew last August when we left the full time ministry position my husband was serving, that change was inevitable.  To the depth, I had no idea.  Through much prayer and time in God's Holy Word, Hebrews 11:6 continued to come up.

And it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

We left knowing that God would provide for our family of five.  How, was a different story (for another time possibly).  Here I sit, nearly a year later.  My husband is serving as the lead pastor of a local fellowship. Change has been evident in our lives.  We have and are continuing to learn to live once again in a rural community.  We're learning still what it means to sincerely seek Christ in the areas of marriage, family and ministry.

Yesterday, as I was reading in Luke 19, I came across the passage in scripture where it talks about Jesus entering Jerusalem.  Reading it, I paused to see that before Jesus came into Jerusalem, while he was still approaching the city, he began to weep.

⁴² “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. ⁴⁴ They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.”

To visualize my Lord weeping over a people.  Tears still come to my eyes as I think about it.  He was so moved with compassion for these people.  People who had already rejected him.  Oh how he longed for them to have accepted the way to salvation, the way to peace.

When we left Birmingham, our oldest son was almost 4 years old.  He didn't understand why we had to leave.  Instead of trying to make a 4 year old comprehend what even as an adult can be difficult, we just simply told him that God had another people for us to love.  And that in time, God would show us those people.  Change.  Change of scenery, change of people, change of heart.  As I read this passage again and again, I asked,

"Has Christ's love so filled me for a people, that I've sincerely wept for their salvation?"

As I thought about this question all day yesterday, I kept asking myself what people has He sent me to love?  Mind you, not only did my husband surrender to the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I did also.  So for me to not be as involved in the ministry as he is, is often frustrating.  So, I kept asking, what people, Lord? The answer, your children, Naomi.



I must confess.  I haven't spent near the time playing with my kids as I have telling them to go play.  I haven't rocked my babies to sleep at night as often as I fuss for them to go to bed.  Today, yet another change has occurred in the Stephens' household.  The change from general church ministry to the ministry of motherhood.  I have a ministry right under my roof.  A people I'm to be so filled with the love of Christ for that I weep over their salvation, that I disciple them daily and I teach them all that Christ has taught me through His Word.  Though I have the same responsibility to others, my boys come first.

What people have you been so filled with the love of Christ for that you weep over their salvation?  How has the ministry of motherhood changed your relationship with Christ and with your children?