TUMBLED

     I love "before and after" pictures!  Maybe it's because my husband has a renovation company -- I've watched with wonder, for years, what happens when permission is given to tear down the old and replace it with new.  The results are always amazing (and so is my renovator).

     But this week, I experienced a new type of "before and after", while visiting with a friend.  She introduced me to their rock tumbling machine, showing me what the rocks look like before they go in and then the gorgeous examples of what comes out at the end.  The "after" is so stunning, it's hard to fathom they came from the "before" rocks.

     When I learned the process takes a whole month of their machine running non-stop, 24 hours a day, only pausing to add different grades of grit, I was even more impressed.  That's 720 hours of being tumbled.

     Have you ever felt "tumbled" as a mom?  I have.  In fact, I relate to the 24 hour a day feeling too, don't you?

     Sometimes I feel like one of the rocks in my friend's machine.  I think these tumbling experiences will never end...I'm sure the "grit" I'm dealing with couldn't possibly do any good in my life...and I'm positive the end result may look worse than the beginning.  But that's because I'm the rock; not the operator.

     God is the "operator" in our lives and He allows us to be "tumbled" from time to time because He's in the process of making something very unique and beautiful in each of us.  Often we can't see past the grit and chaos to appreciate the beauty; but it's there.  The "before" and "after" pictures promise something stunning...but we can't quite see that far yet.

     That's the joy and challenge of motherhood.  We're often being "tumbled" but our wildest dreams can't conjure what good could be in this for us...but God can!


     As I've stumbled through certain weeks, I sometimes find myself wondering if God remembers that He's left His tumbling machine turned on, with me in it.  But the Bible tells us in Romans 8 that, "In ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him," and this truth reminds me that God never tumbles anything in my life without reason and purpose.

     If you're feeling "tumbled" this week, take time to stop and reflect on some truths from God's Word that will remind your heart that God is in charge.  He will not let you be tumbled longer than necessary.  But He is in the process of creating a masterpiece of a mom!

"So (Jeremiah) went down to the potter's house, 

and I saw him working at the wheel...

then the word of the Lord came to me.  

He said...'Like clay in the hand of the potter, 

so are you in My hand.'" 

Jeremiah 18:3&6   

If Only...

     Maybe it was the robin's fault -- the sight of him had started my mind whirling into the pit of the "if only's"?  The robin, on its own, was a glorious symbol of the hope of spring, while remnants of dirty, old snow still lay clustered in the woods.  I should have stayed focused on the glimpse of the red-breasted bird, but no . . . it happened so fast and without any realization that I was past the point of no easy return. 

     What was it?  It was the conversation I shared with myself about better things to come, that caused me to lose sight of the gift of today.  My thoughts had gone something like this . . . 

     "If only this snow would melt . . . but then it will be cold and rainy."  

     "If only the warmer spring days would come . . . but then there will be bugs."

     "If only summer would be here . . . but then . . ." 

     Do you see my dilemma?  It took so little to launch myself into "half a year from now", and in the process I had thrown away the blessing of all the moments and days that are in between.  Why did I do that?  Because I failed to be satisfied with the largess that is buried in the challenges of TODAY. 

     I stopped my thoughts.

     I looked for God's beauty that surrounded me in that moment -- the chaos of school books piled seemingly half-way to the ceiling that was accompanied by the laughter of happy voices . . . the noisy dog that chased his tail on the never-ending search for satisfaction of the catch . . . the brightness of the room  we were gathered in that offered the expectation of warmth and safety.

     My mind rested.  My heart filled with peace.

     God had been brought back to centre, and with Him, came the outlook I required to search for the blessings of the day.

     "Thanks be to God for His

indescribable gift!" II Corinthians 9:15

Restoring

God is always in the process of restoring...if we could see into the spiritual realm, I think we would be amazed at all that He is doing in and around us.  But sometimes we can feel very discouraged for where we are at in life...often it is because we look back on mistakes we have made or the time we feel we have wasted and wish we had done things differently.  But do you know that those feelings can allow for God to move in one of my many favourite ways?  In His miraculous way - He can restore all of these things.  Oh, but I don't know what you have done?  I don't have to, I know what He can do.

In the book of Joel, God gives a wonderful promise, chapter 2 verse 25 says, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten..."  What a beautiful picture!  When you look at your life, do you see places that feel like they have been devoured?  Times in your past that feel robbed of what could have been or what should have been?  That is okay - God is our restorer.  He can take those times, events and moments in our lives and restore them.  All it requires is our willingness to give them to God and leave them with Him. 

What does this look like?  It can have many different processes, but one of them is as simple as quiet time with God, telling Him about the times in your past that you feel have lacked His best.  Surrendering (which means giving over) those things to Him and asking Him to restore what the "locusts" have eaten.  One promise I have seen carried out in my own life and the lives of so many Christians around me, is that He makes beauty from ashes.  In the moments of pain or sorrow, we cannot possible see what He will be able to do - but He can see it all!  Just as a master craftsman can come into a rundown home and make something new and lovely, so much more so can God take the places in our life that are rundown and broken and create a masterpiece. 

Trust the Lord to do as He promises in Isaiah 61, "To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."  What promises - He takes away all of the ashes, mourning, despair and in place give us beauty, gladness, a garment of praise and allows us to display His splendor!  God is the true restorer and master craftsman - allow Him to move in new, deeper ways to restore what the locusts have taken from you!  He has something beautiful planned, my friend!