Pour Into Me

October 13th, 2022
by CFB Communications Team

by Sarah Bohn, CFB member and web contributor

Hey church family!

We’re already in October! If you’re like our family then you’re in the thick of school, work, kid stuff, family stuff, church involvement, house care and the list goes on.

We have been in a season of cleaning out and emptying in our home. Not just material things, although my husband has made a significant dent in clearing out a lot of our excess “stuff.” I have felt that I’m in a season of being emptied spiritually. Not in a bad way as it first sounds when you hear “empty.” But rather in the most holy way possible. My husband and I have felt that there has been a call placed upon our family to empty ourselves for the Lord’s service -- and thanks to that emptiness, God had poured into us and our lives richly.

Despite that, it’s not been an easy season. The call to pour out of ourselves in service has been a call with ever-increasing requirements. When I’ve wanted to say, “Lord, I’m tapping out now,” He has faithfully sustained me and said, “I can do more Sarah. Trust Me.”

Usually, were you to ask me, “When did you feel called to serve?” I wouldn’t be able to give you a specific moment or day or time. I’m usually a very gradual person in regards to how the Lord molds me and changes me. Not so this time. It started the day our son was born.

I was almost 42 weeks pregnant and due to have an induction the next day. It was my daughter’s fourth birthday. I desperately didn’t want to have the induction but nor did I want to have my children share a birthday. I was already afraid (as I think many parents often are) that I was ruining my daughter’s life by bringing another baby into our family. Have them share a birthday and it felt like the end of her ever feeling “special” or “loved”. At least that’s what I thought at the time. My daughter went down for a nap, so I went to get some rest as well, but I couldn’t sleep. So I prayed. I wrestled with what I wanted versus what was God’s will. I finally surrendered. I gave my worry over my daughter’s well being, the induction, everything over to the Lord’s care. You know what happened, friends? When I said “Amen” my water broke. No lie. A few, very fast, hours later my son was born. My children share a birthday. They just turned five and one. Guess what? My daughter loves sharing her birthday with her brother.

That moment of surrender, of saying, “Yes, Lord! Your will, not mine, be done,” was the beginning of this season for our family and it’s been one “yes Lord” after the next ever since. I cannot begin to tell you how much love God has shown us during this time. We have been so blessed by all of the doors and opportunities He’s opened up to us.

One opportunity for me has been the privilege of getting to be a part of the Women’s Ministry team. At our most recent meeting our intrepid leader, Andrea Browning, shared a short devotional on 2 Kings chapter 4 and that chapter has stuck with me all during this time. I’ve been saying yes to a lot, and that on top of general life and parenting stuff has had me feeling quite burnt out. I read 2 Kings 4, however, and think there’s so much God is asking us to learn from the widow in that chapter. She is a great example of faithfully surrendering ourselves and our lives to God’s service.

2 Kings 4:1-7 (ESV)
Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

Things that stand out to me when I read this:

She has need, but God meets her need by asking her to use up what she has left. There’s nothing new to be bought. She even borrows jars from her neighbors. She is just asked to use what she already possesses. The same goes for us. We don’t have to have a degree, a best-seller level conversion, or the fanciest of study Bibles. We just need a faithful and open heart and God will use us.
The doors were shut. No one could see her work. No one could praise her or, conversely, criticize her. It was just her and God. We don’t have to be in the lime light. No one even has to know that we are serving. God will see.
She is pouring out of her vessel into someone else’s waiting jar. There is someone waiting to receive the blessings we have to give.

These are just some of my thoughts from time with the Lord. I pray that whatever season you find yourself in that you would allow yourself to be emptied, making all the room possible to allow our most loving and gracious Lord to fill you to overflowing.

Blessings,

Sarah Bohn
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