Saturday, August 30, 2014

Thank God For Your Messes...Then Make Them A Testimony


Jeremiah 4:1-2 -   "O Israel, come back to me," says the LORD. "If you will throw away your detestable idols and go astray no more,  and if you will swear by my name alone, and begin to live good, honest lives and uphold justice, then you will be a blessing to the nations of the world, and all people will come and praise my name."

 

Jeremiah’s messages are a bit repetitive….always telling the people to come back to God.  But this one gives us a really good reason to try and stay there once we have decided to come back to our senses and love God more than anything. When he reignites the love we had lost in our heart…he can use us to spread more of it to others.

 

The real message here is that God takes our mess and turns it into a message. All that he has allowed to happen in our lives that he has also helped us to overcome is a powerful tool to help others. The mess we went through gives us credibility to the world…and sharing the way God helped us through it gives purpose to the mess we went through.

 

For me….the mess was dealing with the death of my sweet second husband Mitchell.  Today would have been my 4 year anniversary.  God let me crawl up in his lap that day…and I haven’t ventured far from it since. I know that I know that God took my hand that day and is still providing the strength I need to keep walking. My mess has become a testimony of daily devotions…a blog…for losing Mitchell helped me realize I did not have God first place in my life.

 

God has since given me the ability and passion to read his word and give me insights every morning that help me grow even closer to being the Christian he had planned for me all along. The sweetest thought I have today…on one of the hardest days of emotions…is that Mitchell always said I would be a writer someday…that it would even be our ticket to early retirement. That thought will help carry me through today…and help me remember all the good things that God allowed me to share with him.  It makes me want to thank God for the short time we had together…instead of mope around and be sad. The tears I shed on this day will be a testimony…of thanks to God for allowing me any time with him at all.

 

Father…thank you for the wonderful gift you gave me in Mitchell.  Thank you for the mess I had to go through…still go through when he left this earth to live with you.  Thank you for reminding me that even this loss has a purpose in helping others come to know who you are. Forgive me for the times that I forget that my mess has a purpose…and I let satan trick me into feeling sorry for myself.  Help me to hold my head up high and use the mess to help others. Amen.

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