I have a great love for Roses. Red, white, yellow, pink, they are all beautiful. Oh, if I could only sit in front of a rose and watch it bloom. There is so much beauty in one little bud.
Oh, but with movie magic, you can see the transformation happen here:
WOW, God’s creation in time lapse. The beauty of this bud isn’t apparent at first, it appears to be just another green plant, but when Light hits this ordinary bloom, the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
In Hebrews 11, we learn of several people in “The Hall of Faith” that God shines His Light on, inspiring them from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Today, I would like to share the inspiration of Sarah.
Sarah was an ordinary woman with 2 distinct qualities that God used for His purpose. “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” (Hebrews 11:11-12)
The 2 qualities God saw in Sarah?
Sarah had faith and
Sarah was unable to conceive.
It would take a miracle for Sarah to have the children she longed for. But I think if she were sitting next to us today, that she would share this famous quote with us from Dr. John Edmund Haggai, “Attempt something so great for God that it is doomed to fail unless God is in it.”
Wife to Abraham, Sarah was very old and past childbearing age (Genesis 18). God had promised Abraham years before that He would provide a son who was his own flesh and blood to be his heir. “Look up at the sky and count the stars- if indeed you can count them.” “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5)
In the video link above, there is a time lapse of 1:33, but in reality a rose takes 6-8 weeks to bloom as she stretches toward the sun. Sarah too had to wait, at least 13 years from the time the promise was given. God was doing something very special as she waited; however, He was building her faith, a move that would turn the ordinary to extraordinary as He blessed her with the honor of becoming the mother of His chosen people, the Nation of Israel.
Sarah isn’t the only ordinary woman who attempted something great for God:
Hannah prayed for a child and was blessed with Samuel who she dedicated back to The Lord as a Holy man of God.
Rahab, a prostitute, risked her life harboring Hebrew spies, helping them to escape from ancient Jericho. She would also be listed in Matthew’s gospel as an ancestor of Jesus.
Esther saved God’s people from annihilation by the Persian King.
Ruth, a poor and foreign young woman, would not leave Naomi who lost her husband and son. Ruth would become the Great Grandmother to King David and an ancestor of Jesus.
Mary, a Jewish peasant girl would become the mother to Jesus.
We do not know the name of The Samaritan Woman, but we do know that she met Jesus at a well. In her dialogue, she learns that she is in the presence of The Messiah and would come to believe in Him. God would use her to become the first female missionary.
A handful of women written into God’s story as He declares their lives extraordinary. I would bet that none of them thought of themselves as anything more than ordinary.
The rose doesn’t know she is extraordinary either, but when Light shines bright, she stretches out every lovely bloom into a cascade of beauty for all to see.
Remember the promise given to Sarah and Abraham? He would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
I don’t think God is finished yet, I believe that He is still shining His light on each of us as He declares women extraordinary in His Kingdom.
Each of us have a purpose in God’s great story with gifts that bring honor and glory to Him. Just as with this beautiful rose, His Light shines on what we consider ordinary and declares us extraordinary.
What about you?
Do you know that Your Father calls you beautiful, fearfully and wonderfully made in His Image, blessed, His daughter, chosen, extraordinary?
Look up and allow God’s Light to shine on you as He prepares you to cascade into the beauty He has created you to be.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
(2 Corinthians 4:6-7)
Father, thank You for blessing us as daughters of The King. It is in Your purpose that we are called to Your perfect plan. Grant us courage and strength, to fulfill the purpose You have placed in our lives. We are honored, Lord, that where society places a period, you add a comma. Thank You for writing us into Your story and blessing us with eyes to see ourselves as extraordinary in Your sight.
We Love You
In Jesus’ Name
AMEN