Guest Post: Much Becoming Little and Little Becoming Much

Hello friend, I (Jennifer) am excited to introduce you to one of my dear friends, a beautiful thinker and writer of Bible studies with her team, Woven. (See their site here.) Please welcome Beth Whartnaby to our little corner of the Internet. The FACETS believe you will love knowing her and reading her thoughts on God multiplying little into much.

This is a story about much becoming little, and little becoming much.

Eight years ago I moved my elderly parents, who were suffering from chronic physical and mental health issues, from the Gulf coast of Alabama to my hometown in Illinois. My mom and dad had reached the stage where they needed assistance. They were clearly failing, and as their only daughter, I was ready and willing to help. The prospect of having them near us for the first time in our married life excited me as I anticipated sweet times together as a family. I was eager to assume the caretaker role.

Looking back, I realize that I was full of much. I was chock-full of energy, enthusiasm, ideas, and plans, bursting with knowledge and creativity, ready to dedicate my time. I was determined to make a lovely little home for them in their tiny new apartment, find all the right specialists to treat their medical needs, make sense of all their insurance questions, diligently drive them to all their appointments, and warmly include them in family gatherings, making the little time I believed we would have together into much.

God beautifully positioned me to obey the fifth commandment, “Honor your father and mother,” in a very hands on way—and I was determined to do it. But I forgot where the strength and power to fulfill this mandate comes from.

After a few years of caring for my parents I found myself scraping up the dregs from my bucket of much. My own physical and emotional health began to suffer, and it was all I could do to walk into their building each day. My feet felt like lead and my heart broke at our combined need—I was burned out. It was then I realized that what I thought was much, was actually little. I had gone from feeling like I had much to feeling like I needed much, when all I really needed was one thing: God’s powerful grace.

Each time he [God] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me … For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10b NLT

The funny thing about God’s grace is you have to let God fill you with it to experience the power. You have to acknowledge your weakness, surrender control, and offer your empty bucket to God so He can fill it.

For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift].  John 1:16 AMP

I realize now that if I had just surrendered my little to God in the beginning and allowed Him to be strong in my weakness, I would have started out with much! But I didn’t. It took hitting the wall of my own resources for me to actually live what I know: “When I am weak, then I am strong.” When I have little and I put it in the hands of Jesus and leave it there, trusting Him to work on my behalf then I have much.

Doing what God calls us to do is the first thing. Doing what He calls us to do in His strength and not our own is the only way the first thing is possible. Humanly, we all have little. Only God, in His wondrous grace, by the power of His Holy Spirit, can turn our little into a harvest of much. Surrendering everything to God is like handing Him our bucket, the one we think is filled with so much. Suddenly we are overwhelmed when we realize it is now bottomless. Imagine the awe of the boy with only five small barley loaves and two small fish watching thousands feast on his meager lunch (John 6:1-13)!

So how do we live in this power and grace that transforms our little into much? We dwell with Jesus minute by minute, relying on the Holy Spirit to influence our decisions and to infuse us with all we need to follow through. We cultivate a life centered on God’s Word and prayer, growing into a deep abiding with God that makes Him our first and best thought each day, our “go-to” every minute, and our source of rest and peace each night. There is a sweet discipline involved in living in God’s power and grace, an effort on our part, that pays off exponentially. As we surrender our life completely to God, the gift we get in return is “infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

By God’s grace my parents are still with us, battling daily against the challenges of being in their 90s. We have navigated countless doctors’ appointments, many hospitalizations, and our fair share of emergencies. We have argued and agreed, negotiated and surrendered, laughed and cried. The burdens that many would consider much are, in the scheme of things, really little. The little I had to offer, by God’s grace has yielded a harvest of much.

Is there much in your life that God is waiting for you to realize is really little? When you see it, surrender it, and by the power of His amazing grace, He will turn it into much.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT