What’s in Your Alabaster Box?

        Jesus and his disciples were sharing a meal with a prominent Pharisee named Simon. While they were eating a woman carrying an expensive alabaster box of ointment entered Simon’s house, a woman who was known for her sin and uncleanliness.

That woman was Mary Magdalene

The ridiculing whispers she surly endured didn’t deter Mary from doing what she had come to do.  When she reached Jesus she fell at His feet. She began washing His feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anointing His feet with her alabaster box.

Simon belittled Jesus, saying if He were a prophet then He would have known that this was a sinful woman who touched Him. Then Jesus in perfect Jesus fashion shared with Simon a thought-provoking parable about a creditor who had two debtors. Jesus finished his story by putting Simon to the test, asking him which debtor would love the creditor the most. Simon answered correctly, “ I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most.”

Jesus then uttered the most beautiful words, “Her sins, which were many, are forgiven, for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.”

 It’s pretty obvious by Jesus’s words Mary had lived a pretty rough life. But just what was her great sin? Luke 8:2 reveals Mary was possessed with seven devils. One devil inside of a person would be an unbelievably terrible thing. 

But seven?

My mind can’t comprehend how agonizing that would be. Obviously, Jesus had cut down those heavy chains and set her free, but I get this picture of her being broken and weighted down. Jesus had already freed her from the bondage of seven devils, but had Mary let go of it?

The Lord gave me this thought. 

Not only was the ointment inside that alabaster box, but I believe Mary’s pain, her fears, her doubts, her insecurities were also in there. Not only was she thanking Jesus for what He had done for her, but I think she was once and for all pouring out the heartaches she had lived.

So today, I want to pose this question to you. What’s in your alabaster box? What do you need to pour out at Jesus’ feet? 

I have always believed that situations can make us bitter or better. With God’s strength, I’ve poured my fears, pain, heartache, and insecurities out at Jesus’ feet, and I’ve worked hard to be better, but I have wondered when would I see the fruits of being better.  The devil he knows our story and he wants to keep us from seeing the better of our situations.  The more God wants to use our story, the more Satan is going to fight us.

 Look at Mary Magdalene- she was possessed with seven devils! Satan had to see her God-given potential and that’s why he fought her.  When Mary came to Jesus to anoint Him, she was choosing to be better. She was choosing to thank Jesus for what He had freed her from. She was choosing to let go of the pain and heartache of her circumstances. I think though she might have wondered when she would see the fruits of being better.  Little did she know, Jesus was about to use her story.

Mary of Magdalene went from the woman with seven demons to the woman who selflessly and humbly anointed Jesus. She went from being unclean and unfit to be in company with to one of the people who traveled with Jesus and helped proclaim His good news.  Mary went from having no friends to being one of Jesus’ closest friends— so close she was one of the people who stood at His feet as He was hanging from the cross.  She went from the woman who wasn’t credible, believable or worthy, and Jesus bestowed on her the honor to be the first person who saw Him when He rose from the dead. 

When Mary anointed Jesus, she may have not seen how her story could be used, she may have wondered where the fruit of her determination to be better would come from, but Jesus was going to go exceedingly abundantly above what she could have ever asked or thought.

God gave Mary better.

He’s done the same for me as well. The painful trials I’ve had to go through, when I wondered what good could come of them, God gave me better.

And He can do the same for you. He wants to do the same for you.

I truly believe God’s favorite miracle to perform is to take someone’s hopeless situation, where answers aren’t clear and make beauty from ashes. I don’t know what pain, heartache, doubts, or insecurities you have stored in your alabaster box, but I encourage you to let go of them today, pour them out before Jesus’s feet like Mary did. You may not see how God can use your story, but He already knows your potential— If you trust in Him no matter what He’ll give you the beauty, He’ll give you the better.

Little God Moments

         Have you ever met a stranger and just knew God orchestrated that meeting? After you meet them you think to yourself, this was a little God moment because God doesn’t do anything by chance, everything He does is for a greater purpose. This happened to me this week.

         After an encouraging and exciting time at the Ohio Christian Writing Conference, I turned right around and traveled to Bethesda, Maryland for my 12^th visit to the National Institutes of Health, (NIH). Even though I was exhausted from learning so many writing golden nuggets at the conference, I was excited to make this trip to Maryland to learn more golden nuggets about my rare gene mutation, MAGIS Syndrome. Most people wouldn’t enjoy going to a place where the usual each morning is having 15-20 tubes of blood drawn from their veins, but I do because the more I hear new information about my disease, God gives me not only closure but shows me what I have gone through hasn’t been in vain.

         On Monday I was eating lunch with my parents in the NIH cafeteria and my mom and I began to randomly talk about Asbury University. I graduated from the college in 2012 and it’s my parents Alma Mater as well. Suddenly a man appeared at our table and began speaking to us, “I’ve walked past this table a couple of times and noticed you keep repeating a certain word and that word is Asbury. Did you guys go there?”

         “Yes!,” I exclaimed. “I graduated in 2012.”

         “Well I’m John and I graduated in 2007. I worked in the admissions office while you were a student there.”

         “Oh cool! Lisa Harper who was the Admissions Director was my mentor.”

        His face gave off that “aha!” expression when someone figures something out. “I knew you looked familiar to me!” 

         What led after that became two old Asburians talking about the good old days and became new friends. I was able to share my story and how God has given me MORE and he explained he was a chaplain and on an Institutional Review Board. Before we parted ways he told me he’d keep me in his prayers as I continued on this medical journey.

         This encounter brought so much joy to my heart because I would have never dreamt I would have met someone who went to Asbury in the NIH cafeteria of all things! I began to think, what are the odds that my parents and I were in the cafeteria at the same time he was and he walked past our table as my mom and I were talking about our school? The truth of the matter is there isn’t any odds, but there is a God. Romans 8:28 says And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. I may never see John again, only feeling his prayers or someday our paths may cross again for another God orchestrated encounter. The reason as to why God allowed us to meet is uncertain and I may never know why it happened this side of Heaven. But here’s what I do know: this was a little God moment that had a good purpose.

         So here’s my prayer for you— as you travel on this journey I hope you have the same  “aha!” expression like John had when he recognized me because you recognize what you just witnessed was a little God moment. I pray that you have many experiences like this as God continues to write your story. For it’s when we witness those little God moments we know He isn’t finished with us yet.

You’re Enough!

Do you know remember where you were a year ago?

I do— I was about to attend my first writing conference— the Ohio Christian Writing Conference. I was so excited and so terrified at the same time. I didn’t know what to expect or know the do’s and don’ts of writing conferences. I felt like God had given me the talent to write and even believed He called me to share my story, but having the confidence to show my work to publishers, agents, and authors in the writing world, well it made me feel extremely exposed. What if they didn’t think I had what it took to succeed as a writer? What if they didn’t like the message I had to share in my writing? I was scared of rejection.

         I think that’s the reason I hadn’t ever branched out and attended a writer’s conference before last year. The fear of not being accepted and realizing I didn’t know how to advance in the writing world was so overwhelming and it held me back.

         Thankfully, God put the right people in my path and opened the doors that gave me the push to step out of my comfort zone. I went to that writing conference and God gave me so many divine appointments and my confidence began to grow in the calling God had given me and I realized that calling mattered. This past year that confidence has grown and grown. I’m continuing to put myself out there to people and God continues to confirm the calling He has given me. This week I read this quote by Kristen Strong and found it to be so fitting for this season of my life- “When God instills a God-sized dream in your heart He is telling you, YOU ARE ENOUGH. You know enough. You have what it takes. You may not think it or feel it, or see anything that proves it, but it’s true nonetheless.” This quote made my heart so happy because it was as if God was whispering to my heart, “Whitney, you have what it takes and you are enough!”  Even though there’s a lot  I still need to learn about this God-sized dream I’m excited about the fact that I’ve learned so much this past year.  

         And guess where I’m at now? Getting ready to attend the Ohio Christian Writing Conference again. I don’t know what God has in store for me these next few days, but I’m praying I’ll learn even more so I can be a better writer, I’ll receive an increased drive and passion to pursue God’s calling, and witness divine appointments.

         So what’s the point of telling you all of this? Well, I’m sharing all of this to encourage you on your journey of pursuing your God-sized dream. I don’t know what it is, but that doesn’t matter, because the truth of the matter is if God’s put a calling on your life, He will equip you to achieve it. Because of God’s equipping, you know enough and you have what it takes. You may not think it or see it, but with each passing step, God will tell you what you need to know. Stepping out of your comfort zone to pursue your talents and passions can be difficult, believe me, I understand this. So as someone who knows this all too well, I want to cheer you on to go all out and grasp everything God has for you because YOU ARE ENOUGH!