Day 20 - Poured Out

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed...

{2 Corinthians 4:7-9}

There were words...a jar of words, maybe a box full, or even a store house...of thoughts and prayers that needed to be shared, unloaded, poured out for a purpose.

I prayed, Lord, take these gifts for your kingdom. In exchange He gave me pain and loss. He gave me grief and loneliness. He brought me through the desert to face impossible things.

Then he sent community. He gave me a kindred-spirit friend. She told me I had a message to share. There were those who were searching and hoping. And I had all these words in my hands.

He taught me confidence in him, not in me. He told me to write and to share, to be vulnerable and free. So I did. I wrote and shared and I wept and prayed.

Then he gave me servant-hood. He taught me love for the unlovable. He humbled me, least I forget that I am just me. He guided me on a path of peace.

He gave me intimacy in friendships, mentors, and opportunities to lead. Though I wanted to pull back into the the shadows, he brought me into his glorious light. He gave me a platform and a voice.

And though I trembled, he steadied my feet as I walked along. But I looked at the the beautiful load and I struggled to pick it up. I began to strive and stumble and bend. So he broke me.

He brought loneliness, uncommon-ness, and vulnerability. I faced myself in the mirror and knew it deeper still. I am just me. But He is he. And he is enough.

He takes my not enough and fills it up with his enough-ness. He fills me with living water so that I may be poured out.

I am not a water tank to store up good treasures and keep them to myself. He made me to be a vessel that pours not stores. I am a conduit. Let him flow.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days

Renewed Mind

Welcome to Day 26 of the series Speak Praise as part of the Write 31 Days challenge.

Living out a daily journey of speaking praise, I am surprised at the direction the Lord is taking me. For all the brainstorming and outlining and scriptures about praise and the power of the word, I could really spend a year delving into the significance of our worship and our words.

But living this journey, and being thrown into the middle of the storms of life, have tested what I think I know. Truly, it will take a lifetime of walking with the Lord to learn what he means by worship in Spirit and in Truth. How do we learn what that even looks like?

Meditating on praise this month has lead me down a humbling path. Praise should render a penitent heart. The sound of our voice becomes like a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal if it doesn't erupt from a heart changed by God's love and grace. It forces me to search my heart, my thoughts, and reflect on the sobering repercussions of my words.

Let My Words Be Life

Words

By Hawk Nelson

They've made me feel like a prisoner

They've made me feel set free
They've made me feel like a criminal
Made me feel like a king

They've lifted my heart
To places I'd never been
And they've dragged me down
Back to where I began

Words can build you up
Words can break you down
Start a fire in your heart or
Put it out

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don't wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

Overflow of the Heart

My friend sits across the table telling me about her daughter's talent on the piano. How she had encouraged her to nurture the seeds God has planted in her heart, let it grow until it overflows into the lives of others. Because you know? There's not enough of that in this world. There can never be too much of the good stuff running over.

Every year a few of the teachers at my daughter's school take the children on a field trip to a local apple farm. The children learn about harvesting, raising small livestock, beekeeping, and how to make pressed apple cider.

Farmer talked about what makes an apple good for pressing. And the kids shouted answers like, "it's on the inside."

 “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives" LUKE 6:45 (MSG)

The kiddos lined up by the cider press waiting for a chance to toss in the apples and turn the hand crank to grind the apples into a wooden bucket. One by one they stood on the platform to press the apple mash. Golden liquid trickled down through the spout into a new bucket. Farmer funneled the liquid amber into a pitcher for all to taste.

As a woman, as a mom, there are moments that press me in, and sometimes what overflows from my heart is plain nasty. It comes pouring out like rancid, rotton drabble that is as empty as the pitcher I poured it from. Gossip comes too easily when "I can't believe what she said," and "I can't believe what he did" come down like the judge's gavel, "Don't they know it's wrong?" (Losing by Tenth Avenue North).

“Pies are like words. You cannot unbake a pie. You cannot unsay words.” –Veggie Tales

We lost a loved one who used to say, "Actions speak louder than words." So when he tragically took his own life, the depth of that motto was profound. Actions do speak.

What is my life speaking? What am I saying with the way that I live that my little girl can model after? How do my actions speak love to my husband?

How does anyone know what I believe if what comes out of my heart leaves a bitter taste in the mouth? Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips (Ps141:3).

My friend and I finish the last of our tea, and the conversation lingers as we drink in the sweetness of our company. And she says, "I want my heart to be so full of God's grace that what's inside spills out." 

May the abundance of God's love poured into our hearts come brimming over the edges as praise!
May we turn to the grace spilled out in love upon written tablets of stone that we may be set free.
May we press in to the Word that changes us from the inside out.
May we experience the power of the Spirit to fill us up and make us more like Jesus.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
PSALM 19:14