Saturday, November 15, 2014

A Sink Full of Dishes And A Heart Filled With Joy

I know it's been awhile.  Forgive Me Friend. You know everyone of you are near and dear to me.  My heart has been on overflow as the many months have passed.  My heart has been heavy and full all at the same time.  Oh, How I longed to be with you and share my life with you. So, Let me explain...




A sink full of dishes! A sink full of dishes!( Yes, that is pure excitement in my voice.)  My husband and I have been in a recent season of trials.  We could NOT have prepared for the things we were about to experience in this season of storms.  How do I know this, because we did prepare and yet here we are!  Here is a friendly fact for ya:

SOMETHINGS YOU JUST CAN'T PREPARE FOR FRIEND. PERIOD.

What happens when you are just in the middle of the sea and the storms begin to rage?  What can you hold on to?  How long can you hold on to what you think will keep you secure?  Here's what I know, that in this season of storms the only thing keeping me and my family is The Lord!  You heard me right!  

I don't know about you, but I live in and am surrounded by a culture that promotes security!  Security through trying to control everything that happens in our lives.  

Kids going ham? Don't worry do these 3 easy steps and problem solved.

Your finances are tight?  Well just have a savings and plan ahead. 

Want a new job?  Simple.  Network.

Ever so often the Lord, Sovreign God, Creator of the Universe will bring us some real deal stuff to see where our hope lies.  Things that can't be forecasted, but just happen.  

A diagnosis of cancer.

An adoption process that's on pause.

A loss of a child or even infertility.

An emptied bank account.

An affair.  A divorce.  You fill in the blank.

Here's my point: 

EVERY TRIAL, EVERY DIFFICULTY, EVERY DIAGNOSIS IS FOR HIS GLORY!

So, one beautiful day that seemed not so beautiful rocked my world.  I was having a conversation with my hubby, and we began to have some hard conversations about what should be done during this season of trials.  So, what did we do?

We stopped, we prayed, we worshiped God.

Then we did it again and again.

And then we got our community involved and asked them to stop, pray and worship.  

What happens when God does not respond at the moments you think he should?

We wait.  And that's what we did.

With a sink full of dishes I would stop, pray, cry aloud to my God(And girl did I cry.  FYI....I am NOT a crier) and then worshiped Him.  The One who responds, reigns and floods into my heart like a mighty rushing wind.  

Listen ladies.  There have been many days I would just pour my heart out before the Lord with a sink full of dishes!  Wanna know why?

BETTER MY HEART CLEAN WITH A SINK FULL OF DIRTY DISHES THAN A TROUGH FULL OF SIN IN MY HEART WITH A SINK FULL OF CLEAN DISHES!

Listen to what scripture says in Psalm 51:16-18(English Standard Version)
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    build up the walls of Jerusalem;

This is David crying out to the Lord.  He knew the Lord, checking the "right" boxes and yet he knew he had sin in his heart!  So David came clean.

I came clean with the Lord.  Pride, haughtiness, envy, doubt, fear.  All these things the Lord revealed in my heart.  As I was on the floor in my kitchen with those dirty dishes, God wanted my heart.  He wanted my heart ever the more broken and pure for Him.  He wanted me to be naked before Him. He wanted to take the dish of my heart and wash it, clean it, and it make it shine for His glory!  Let me tell ya'll something, in that moment was pure JOY!  

This is a joy like none other.  It is eternal.  It is not bent on emotion, but on the reality of who God is!  Nothing else can compare and nothing ever will.  God's joy comforts, does not condemn, encourages, and sets free the anguished soul!  

Here's my question:

Do you have this joy?  Are you in a place where you are tending more to the sink full of dishes than the sin that is lying dormant in the crevices of your soul?  Are you choosing to embrace the JOY that Jesus gave us over 2,000 years ago on that cross?  The joy that releases you from guilt, condemnation and anguish.  Spend some time searching your heart today in the presence of a Perfect God, to see what He reveals to you.  When God reveals it, don't let it remain but ask Him to "create a clean heart in you and renew a steadfast spirit in you"(Psalm 51:10).  

Wanna find out the second part of my story?  Come back on Wednesday!  See ya friend.   


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