Clean This House

Several weeks ago while cleaning a customer's house, something happened that really spoke to me. I knew I was to write about this experience, but I have not taken time to do so until now. 

My customer stated she needed to get into the storage closet because something was emitting a horrible odor. As she began removing items from the closet she saw something had dissolved and was leaking down the wall. She kept digging and realized a bag of potatoes had been placed into the closet and forgotten. Some of them were no longer in solid form, but liquid. You can imagine how horrible the smell! While she dealt with cleaning this particular area, I proceeded cleaning the rest of the house as usual. It was later in the cleaning process I heard God speak. 

God showed me how this is a perfect example of how many of us live our lives. Something that once was a good thing (the bag of potatoes) and perhaps even healthy for us, can become something horrible. When placed into the darkness and forgotten, it can begin to rot. Our attention can be captured when we begin to get a "whiff" of something not being right. If we notice something is going bad, but choose to ignore the change, it will only get worse. Like an infected wound if not treated, something that could be easily rectified becomes much more complex. No matter how thorough a cleaning I would have done in that house, if the stench was not found and removed, the cleaning I did would have been useless. You can clean the outside as much as possible, but if the inside is not cleansed, the whole house will still stink. 

Oftentimes this is what happens in our lives. We spend billions of dollars every year on cosmetics and related outer beauty items. Yet we feed our inner selves with trash television, movies, and books about things in opposition to God. We do all possible to avoid the inner "stench" in our souls. However, sin is never satisfied. What may begin as just a small scent of something going bad will gradually turn into a horrible odor that will take over our lives.

Unfortunately, this is also what can happen within the body of Christ. We can see the warning signs of something beginning to "smell." Changes are made that are just slightly off line with the church of the Bible, but we accept it as being okay. Gradually the small variation grows into something that no longer resembles it's original design or form. Just like the potato was once solid and turned into liquid, it is no longer able to fulfill the purpose for which it was created.  Not only did the potatoes need to be removed, but the closet had to be scrubbed. Anything the potatoes had touched had to be cleansed in order to remove the smell. The stench not only affected the closet, but every room connected to it. The "smell" in your life not only affects you. It affects your children, your spouse, your friends, and everyone connected to you. The "smell" in one house of God affects all of us in the body of Christ. 

Thankfully, when we have a stench or odor in ourselves, God does not simply throw us away as we had to do with the potatoes. However, He does call us to be repentant and humble regarding our stench. God is not deceived or mocked (Galatians 6:7). He knows the motives of our hearts. He knows when our repentance is sincere and when it is given in order to make ourselves look better. I've apologized to God many times regarding sin that I knew I would be willing to commit again. It was not until I fell utterly broken before Him that I understood the difference in an apology and a repentant heart. 

Is there an issue in your life that is beginning to smell? Is there an area that needs to be addressed before it destroys the entire house? What good would it be to have the most excellent house around, but the smell is so terrible people refuse to enter? My prayer for you today is to earnestly seek God regarding the hidden "smells" in your life that need to be addressed. Don't let a small thing turn into something much worse. 

When God Put Me in Time-Out

I have a confession to make. As awesome as the last 5 months of married life have been, there has been one area in which I've been mad. I've spent countless amounts of time asking God, "WHY?" and telling Him about how this one thing is not what I had pictured for my life. I've shared my disappointment with Him. I've told Him how much this one thing really sucks. So basically, in the midst of the happiest time of my life, I've been complaining.

I suppose I need to share what has had me so mad at God.

My husband and I have to share a vehicle. It's a long story, but when we got married, he left the vehicle he had with his mother so she would have a car. This was a noble and honorable gesture, but it put a strain and inconvenience on me. And that is all I could see. In God's infinite wisdom, He gave us jobs with opposite schedules. While this is not great for getting a lot of quality time together during the week, it does make the transportation situation easier. I use the vehicle in the mornings to go to my cleaning jobs and I am home by the early afternoon so he can go to his second shift job. However, this arrangement means starting at 2 o'clock every day, I'm stuck at home.

No vehicle after my work hours means it's hard to get to the grocery store. No vehicle means I'm unable to physically respond when the ministry I work with has a need to help a woman coming out of trafficking. No vehicle means when the kids share how it's their school's night for a fundraiser at a local restaurant, we can't go. The list of all the things we can't do is a long one. This list is where my focus has been for several months.

Until two nights ago.

As I was once again in the middle of one of my pity parties, I heard God answer where there had been silence. In all my whining and complaining to Him, I had failed to receive any understanding of the situation. But then He spoke. What I heard God ask me is this:

Why are you complaining when I've given you a time to rest? 

You've fought and hustled for so long, and now I'm making you be still!

Why are you so upset that I've given you time to get your house in order?

Ouch! God chastised me for my anger. He asked why I have been whining and complaining about something I had wanted for so long. What I had asked God for didn't come in the package in which I thought it would appear so I didn't see the gift and blessing for what it truly is. I wonder how many times in life I've done this to God. How many times has He given me something I've needed and requested, only for me to overlook the blessing and only see the inconvenience? I'm like the Israelites complaining about the wilderness instead of rejoicing I'm no longer a slave! 

What about you? Is there an area of your life where you are complaining, but the reality could be God is blessing you? Have we forgotten to, 

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, 

give thanks in all circumstances; 

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

My prayer for you today is for you to experience peace where you have only felt frustration. I pray for God's revelation where you have been blind in a particular circumstance. I pray you see beyond the immediate vision to see the bigger picture. 

And I pray....for another vehicle (just to keep it honest!)

Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story by Trip Lee

Rise is a book challenging believers, especially younger believers, to become the men and women of God they were created to be. Only in his 20's himself, Trip Lee has the authority to speak on denying the lure of popular culture and instead living for Christ. Lee issues a challenge to teens and young adults to defy the societal norm and passionately pursue God.  

I'm not in the age range of the target audience of this book and yet I was challenged and motivated to step up my faith. I have a teenage daughter and know how important it is for her to know, despite her age, she can have an impact on the world and society. Lee writes with Biblical knowledge and truth as well as humor. He boldly addresses topics such as the impact of media on our minds and why marriage is important in the story of God.  

This book is an excellent selection for teens and young adults. I also recommend for youth pastors or for parents of teens and young adults. Even if you aren't in any of these categories, you will learn something from this book! 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Whether Single or Married

Today's post is going to be handled in two parts. First I want to address the single women who are reading. There is a verse I want to highlight for you from Proverbs. 

"The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from The Lord."  Proverbs 18:22

Ladies, take note of who in the relationship equation does the finding. It is the man. NOT the woman. The biggest mistake I see women making in today's society is in chasing a man. Ladies, God has commanded HIM to find YOU! I'm not saying we are to be unprepared or unaware of our surroundings, however it does not say the woman who finds a husband finds a treasure. I believe the primary reason "chivalry is dead" is because we have killed it by our willingness to operate out of order. 

I have talked to male friends who have shared how they have gone on dates and had women become offended when they opened the door for them. When we offer to "go dutch" on a meal we are disabling a man from his first opportunity to provide for us. Besides, if he is not able to buy you dinner, how will he provide you with a home and for the needs of a family? Call me old-fashioned in my beliefs towards relationships, but I prefer to call them biblical. 

So what are you doing while waiting for the man God has for you? Are you sitting at home crocheting and complaining on Facebook about your singleness? Or are you preparing for him? When he finds you, will he truly find a treasure in you? If you have wounds and hurts from your past (and let's be real, most of us do), then use this time to seek God for healing these wounds. It is MUCH easier to enter into a relationship with healing occurring than it is to seek healing once you are in a relationship. Unaddressed wounds in a relationship will only sabotage the relationship. Use this time wisely to become a treasure in God.

Now, I want to address those of you who are already married. The verse today for you is also from Proverbs. 

"Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife." Proverbs 21:19

I don't know about you, but when I read this verse my first thought is, "Ouch! Isn't this a bit harsh?" What kind of a wife are you? Do you become angry easily? Do you constantly feel the need to remind (aka nag) your husband to do things? Apparently this type of behavior in a wife is nothing new. Thousands of years ago men were saying it was better to be out in the wilderness than to live with such a wife! Think about it....the wilderness. Extreme temperatures, wild animals, and a good chance of death are a better alternative than living with a nagging and hot-tempered wife. 

When your husband found you, he must have believed he had found a treasure. However, he may want to bury it and forget the "X" to mark the spot if all you do is nag and become angry quickly. Who wants to come home to that every day? If you see yourself in this verse, it is time to ask yourself why you behave this way? The first thing not to respond is, "well, he...." This is not about him, it is about YOU! One of the fruits of the spirit is patience. If you are hot-tempered, then you are lacking in patience. 

Chances are if your husband is not leading your home, it is because he does not want to incur the wrath of a hot-temper when he leads in a way that is different from how you would like to lead. We nag as women when things are not done on a time schedule of our choosing. This does not mean something is not a priority to our men, but it is not as high a priority as we make it in our lives. Communication regarding why something is important is necessary. However, be extremely mindful of your tone and the timing of your discussion. If you are attempting to discuss an important matter in the middle of his favorite football team playing, then you will come across as nagging. Be mindful of his state of mind and when he is most receptive to conversations. 

Whether single or married, we can all have something we need to work on in ourselves. Single ladies, remember to spend this time becoming the treasure your man is seeking. Married ladies, calm down and quit nagging.

What You Don't See

The beauty of Jesus' communication was in the way He he taught in ways his listeners could understand. He did not come to earth and speak in difficult to understand "heavenly realm" language. Most of His audience of the day understood the concept of planting and sowing. They were aware of how seeds work and grow. This is why God chose to explain the kingdom of heaven in terms of sowing and reaping.

" Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed 

 fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Mark 4:3-8
The same principle happens with us when we hear the word of God. Our reaction to hearing the word can take on different methods of reception. Just like the birds of the air, satan can easily devour the seed of the word when it falls by the wayside. Other times the word can land in us and appears to take root, yet because it did not have time to properly grow, it's not strongly rooted. The first storm that arises causes the fruit to whither away. There are people who hear the word, but because of all the thorns in their life, the word cannot take root.

However, there is the good ground. This is where the word of God takes strong root and grows into a crop greater than anything we could imagine simply by looking at the little seed that was planted. When I read each of these situations, I see myself in all of them. Because of different circumstances in my life or because of my choices at the time, I was each of these grounds. Because of sin, each of us start out as thorny, rocky, soil. The more seed that is planted, the more work begins to happen in us to clear out our fields. As the seed is being planted, eventually some of it finds the little piece of good ground and it takes root.

We may not see the results of the seed growing. Our behavior may not immediately change. Our attitude may not immediately change. However, growth is happening even though we do not see it. In fact, most of our growth happens out of the sight of others. Just as this applies to us personally, it also applies to each and every person around us. Just because we do not SEE the growth we expect to see in someone does not mean growth is not happening. Never give up on someone simply because you do not see what you want out of them! Just keep planting the seeds!