Zoe, Faith, and Fall Festival Fun..

Well, she finally let someone paint her face!

For whatever reason Zoe has not let anyone do a face painting on her!

Not that we haven't given her many opportunities.

I do believe we went to 4 -5 Fall Carnivals in the last month,

And probably 8-9 last year.

So let me set the scene for you. She said "Mommy go first" So I did. The sweet artist made a pretty little purple and white, with black, swirly masterpiece on one side of my face, as Zoe looked on, safe in her daddy's arms.

When it was her turn, she sat in the chair, still holding tightly to dad's arm.

Our sweet artist was patient with her, as she handed her the brush, compelling her to try it out on the artists arm, or her own arm.

Zoe wanted nothing to do with that. 

She managed to sneak in a cold, wet stroke of the brush against Zoe's cheek, which was met with resistance!

She calmly explained that it was wet, and talked her into another , then another, until she was sporting a full face painting that looked like a mini- mommy one.

I was amazed at the tenacity of the artist! She would not take no for an answer, and continued to pull tricks out of her bag of persuasion.

I was reminded at how often we lose patience with ourselves or each other when learning or teaching a new concept. Or maybe even in sharing our faith.

How often have we rolled our eyes, looked to the heavens, while exclaiming silently..."Why do they just not get it?"

Yet the Word speaks to us clearly and tells us to not give up while fighting the good fight of faith , because we will see the reaping of the reward, if we just hang on...even by our teeth!

He said to compel others to the faith! What a strong word! What a strong image! I imagine a bull dog wrestling with a chew toy in a tug of war with his owner. Never letting go, even as the owner picks the dog off his feet and he dangles suspended in the air! Have you ever felt like that?

Suspended between faith and doubting?

The urge to hold on and the urge to let go, nagging at you with equal strength?

That is exactly the time when we should hold on. Keep trying. Persevering. Compelling. Expecting.

Most miracles are missed because we quit to soon. We gave up right before the answer came. I always remember how long it took for Daniel to receive a

n answer to his prayer. It wasn't because God had shut His ears.

No! There was an unforeseen battle in the spirit realm between angels and the enemy. Wrestling. Preventing. Caging. Blocking.

But the answer did come. Daniel was in a position to receive it because of his tenacity like a bulldog. Waiting on His knees in prayer, Daniel reaped the reward.

I feel the Lord is wanting me to continue hanging on to a few areas of my life.

First, to the hope that my new husband will continue to learn and grow in his new leadership role as spiritual leader in our home.
Secondly, to continuing to write my novel that has been in and on my heart almost my whole life.( I am 7 pages in...WooHoo!)
Third, to continue to walk in His annointing that He has placed in me to sing and minister on stage in songs of praise.

What is God asking you to not give up on so easily? I would love to hear what He is doing in your life..Please feel free to share and comment as He leads you.

Blessings and Miracles,
Nicole

http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/

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