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the kingdom collection [new prints]

do you ever get the feeling that God is bombarding you with a specific message? you know, you'll read a verse and it lingers with you all day. you hear a sermon or read a blog post or a book. then a song pops into your head. you didn't hear it playing, it just popped in there and sticks with you for two weeks? and you have a stirring that He wants you to do something. and it's a stirring you've felt before. for years, really. and then you have this idea that you should start praying in a certain direction, by faith, that God would allow something specific, or fulfill a desire that you believe He gave to you? just something specific but also out of the blue? well it happens to me often, but this time i'm listening and doing.

do you know that song "Hosanna" by Brooke Fraser? that song popped into my head a few weeks ago. but just this part of the chorus:

show me how to love like you have loved me
break my heart for what breaks yours
everything i am for your kindgom's cause

but it wasn't just this song. it has been a compilation of probably fifty different things, and really over the past few years. it's just gotten louder lately. i have felt for awhile that God has been stirring me to spend time and/or money on some things that would further His kingdom. did you know this is always His will for us as His people?

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:10-11

but we get so caught up in our own busy lives and families that sometimes it's really super hard to think about adding one more thing. i know.

i was sitting in church after a powerful message a few sundays ago. our new church has a central message of "God's kingdom come on earth, today, in us and through us, his people". and most of the sermons for the past few months that we've been attending have been more or less centered around that overall theme.

this particular sunday, not too long ago, had a profound impact on me. and we ended with a time of worship, like always. i can't remember the song we were singing, actually... i just remember that at the end, they tagged on a little chorus from a totally different song. and do you know what it was?

show me how to love like you have loved me
break my heart for what breaks yours
everything i am for your kindgom's cause

and i started crying. and my poor husband was probably a little confused. but it was as if God had prepared that sermon just for me, and just so i knew it was from Him, He had them play "our song". you know? yeah, goosebumps.

and then this flood hit me all of a sudden. i'd already been working on this beautiful collection of prints you see below. and i knew that i needed to finish them, post them for sale, and give the proceeds toward something specific that would further God's kingdom. i started thinking and praying about what that might be, and my mind kept coming back to Compassion International. i've followed their blogger trips for the past few years, and always felt stirred to sponsor as i've read the work they're doing... but i never actually did sponsor a child, for whatever reason. i could come up with a hundred excuses, but lately i don't want to be that person anymore. i have a little way to make extra money, through my shop, and that money needs to be stewarded in a way that honors the Lord. sponsoring a child through Compassion most certainly honors the Lord.

this post was already typed up last week, but wouldn't you know, there's more to the story. so i had to add this part:


just this past weekend, i attended Beth Moore's simulcast, where she spoke to 150,000 of us who tuned in to watch. and God spoke straight through her to me and confirmed everything He'd been whispering to me this whole time. it was the culmination and commission that i needed to finally convince me to stop living by sight, content in my own little world, and start living by faith. it was past time for me to step out into this supernatural unknown where He works and where His glory is revealed most brilliantly. in her wonderful way, Ms. Beth basically explained that we were never meant to have it all together, juggle all our balls in the air, and live a smooth and content and normal life. we weren't meant to be "just fine" when people asked, lacking almost nothing and in need of nothing from them. we were called out of ordinary, into extraordinary, into the supernatural with Christ. if there is not an obvious need for us to exercise FAITH in our lives on a daily basis, we're not out on the water where He wants us. and for all who have have put our trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life... that is exactly where He wants all of  us. out on the water with Him.

this might seem like a super small way to "live by faith" and step out onto the water, but i believe it's the first step that God is asking me to do. i don't know why. but i do know that no step of faith is insignificant. every single thing that we believe the Lord for? it builds and builds until, as Beth put it, we're almost unrecognizable to our own selves. that's who i want to be.

so here are those prints. they'll be for sale in my shop, in a section called "kingdom collection". i'll probably add more as time goes on, but here's what we have for the grand opening [check out a few more colors in the shop]:



by faith, i'm going to sell these prints, asking God to provide enough to sponsor at least 2 children through the money that is raised each month. that means at least five of these prints will need to be purchased each month. i know that might seem silly to you, or even really insignificant, but i've had a habit of not doing the little things God prompts me to do and i want to do away with that kind of fairweather obedience, you know? i'm stepping out. a teeny tiny step, but still a step. i hope you'll buy some prints. they would make beautiful gifts and they would be a poignant reminder for you to be about God's work, to love His people, to further His kingdom, to live by faith.

"Do not wait: the time will never be just right
Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools 
you may have at your command, 
and better tools will be found as you go along."
[Napoleon Hill]


here's the link, one more time :)
would you "share" this? tweet, post on facebook, tell your real-life friends... whatever?
there are little icons just below that let you do that really easily. 

Comments

  1. you are so inspiring aly. i can feel almost a tangible spiritual momentum in your words lately. God is really stretching your faith and commissioning you, like you said, to partake in bigger and better things He has planned just for you. this idea of yours is really cool. so cool. that passage is great. i love how the "hungry and oppressed" can mean in a spiritual way also, which is the way I feel commissioned to reach out lately. that is also by far my favorite line in that song. I pray it to my core when i sing it. and i also love the theme of your new church. what a great mission statement. and hey, in your free time, you need to make a new blossom blog button!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not silly or insignificant in the LEAST! God is so good and will use you to bless those 2 kids abundantly because of your step of faith. Not to mention others who might be prompted to do something similar because of you! I am so encouraged by you. God is good, sister. Amen!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Isn't it amazing when you really hear God's voice to do something specific, even if it may seem small and insignificant to you? But what may seem small is a huge step of trusting the Lord on his call, and it will mean the world to children out there who will benefit from your generosity. Love the prints and I may have to get one of those Isaiah ones! So pretty!

    PS - Looking forward to get to know you more through the ND Mentorship! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi! I just discovered your blog today & found it very encouraging!! I am looking forward to connecting with you! {already found you on twitter! Blessings, Heidi

    ReplyDelete
  5. i just love your heart.
    you are doing something big.. stepping out of your comfort
    zone and into HIS zone.
    i ask myself so many times '"what am i doing to bring glory to His name in my daily life?" and sadly, i don't know that i can answer that too well.. just trying to get through the daily grind with kids and household in one piece.
    i'll be placing my order this weekend for one of your prints (and i've had my eye on it since you posted it on ig) - you are awesome. and inspiring. xoxo

    ReplyDelete

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