This morning as I was turning the page in my Bible I zeroed in on six words and sat staring at the page. My mind filled with thoughts from my past…and my present.
I became somewhat mesmerized as I contemplated what I was peering down at.
I have long been amazed at how my Heavenly Father speaks to me and reveals Himself through His word. There are passages that I have been known to camp out on for quite some time as it seems a nuance is revealed fresh and new the more I contemplate.
Today…I waivered.
Stumbled.
And felt God had challenged me in a new way through His word.
I was looking at my NIV Life Application Bible. I had turned to a page with one of those analysis of someone in the Bible.
The six words I was frozen by were
Strengths and accomplishments:
Weaknesses and mistakes:
However, I was not compelled to read the rest of the words adjoining those six words. I was locked into those six words only. And then I knew.
My challenge from the Lord…to reflect honestly about myself and place sentences after the colons.
This is something I did not (and still don’t) feel especially excited about doing. Ever so gently the thought floated through my scrambling brain that if what I do reflectively place on the, as yet unmarred, page is distressing to me … I have a lot of life yet to live. As God continues to mold this lump of clay.
Glimmer of excitement…the clay is in the hands of the potter.
Peace.
Thank you for sharing this thought. We are to examine ourselves thoughtfully and prayerfully. Easy to say and hard to do in our chaotic lives. There are so many scriptures which encourage us to get the log out of our own eye, to work out our salvation…This hit home with me as a cleaned up broken glass which led to scrubbing the floor which led to steaming it this morning to (finally!) get the stickiness off. I and my family are suffering. It’s the bold truth. But the suffering has a purpose. Clay must go through pressure, turnings, watering down and finally firing in a furnace in order to become a useful vessel. So must we. On the other side of that sometimes painful and always too long process are the answers to STRENGTHS/ACCOMPLISHMENTS/WEAKNESSES/MISTAKES. I look forward to writing His answers to those questions.
Great thoughts, Tracey! Thanks for sharing.