11/21/2013

Guest post with Hannah Bryant


 Hey there! Today we have a fun little guest post from the lovely and talented Hannah Bryant. Won't you give her a bit of blog love?

There wasn’t even a question. I needed to act and the time was now.
It was a few years back when I worked as a solo Flight Attendant on a small aircraft, the pilots flew the plane and I got a group of thirty passengers to myself. I must admit, I had a lot of fun on longer flights playing games with those I welcomed on board. I always wanted to have a karaoke competition but never found the courage to be the first one to start singing.
This particular day had seen a lot of rain, there before me was a mother who had an intellectual delay in my cabin with her eight month old baby. She was flying into Sydney where she would catch a connecting flight to Lismore, a rural country town north of New South Wales. The straight forward journey had been complicated due to the runway at her destination being under water-flooded.
I sat next to her and asked if she had a ‘plan of attack’ as she would not be flying out of Sydney until the following morning. She would need to wait a full twenty-four hours.
Her answer was to stay in the airport where she and her baby would sleep and survive the night as she didn’t know anyone in the big smoke and had a small amount of money.
Not on my watch.
I had a decision right there, in that moment, to choose a love which Christ demonstrates to me. A type of love which begs a response in practical measures.
I gently asked her if she wanted to come to my home? I had been fostering infants (as my three children weren’t thought of) and had a car seat set up, clothes which would fit her baby, a crib and all things needed to make her stay comfortable. She agreed.
After a call to management and my husband, giving him a “heads up” it was settled, my passenger was coming home with me.
I feel a little sheepish writing about my morning flight to Sydney as this is a very small gesture of extending love.
I know that you are being more radical in your expression of agape, so my story is to simply spur you on, to encourage and remind you,
That love finds a way to demonstrate itself in our everyday life.
We just need to be willing and then compelled to act accordingly.
God’s love moves us to act, it motivates action so His goodness can be displayed.
The ironic part is…Displaying His love is often done with things unseen.
Cooking someone a meal, cleaning a friend’s home, bending knees on the hard floor petitioning on behalf of a brother or sister, being generous with finances, placing others needs before your own, the list is endless.
“But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence. It’s a love that operates more like a sign language than being spoken outright.”
Bob Goff, Love Does
‘Love unseen’ moves you into a decision making process that often doesn’t make sense to the naked eye, but makes complete sense in the spiritual world.
Getting your hands dirty for the name of Jesus is not in vain my friend, He sees the unnoticed and smiles at your heart with sheer delight.
He understands that its costly, requires energy, using your resources, sacrificing self and interrupting your plans.
It may not make sense in the moment when you hear the Holy Spirit inviting you to step out on His behalf, but the thing is this, you don’t need all the answers to respond immediately, just a willingness to listen and obey.
There is going to be a moment presented to you in the very near future where loving outwardly calls your name.
What is your response going to be?

Hannah, her husband & three children are currently living in Ontario Canada and are heading home this December to Sydney Australia to begin Three Rivers Church, a home church movement. Hannah is passionate about teaching women about their uniqueness in Christ and encouraging them to abandon fear in order to live radically for Jesus. You can keep up to date with her at Ashes-to-beauty.com

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