Beauty in the Ashes

The Ant and the Contact Lens

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock.

Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens.

Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there.

Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.

Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it.

Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

At the risk of being accused of being fatalistic, I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will."
God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

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I love this story! So many times we look at our trials and groan under the pressure, the hurt, and the pain. We don’t see a reason for it nor understand why, so we tend to begrudge God for placing, what we deem as, unnecessary baggage on our shoulders. If only we’d learn to pray that God would open up our eyes and see the greater purpose beyond the pain of the moment. He may not show you the exact reason nor give you a detailed explanation for it, but He will always comfort you and direct your eyes so they see Him and His glory. Be open to Him and don’t shut out the good in your trial. It’s easy to focus on the negative and let the tears fall. While there is a time for tears, don’t let it consume you. Ask God to show you the beauty in the ashes.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
(James 1:2-5)

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
(James 1:12)

A poem that touched me today...

He's Always There
By Frances Matney Woodard
(1922 - 1991)
(slightly modified)

Today as I was sad and grieved
I knelt to pray
I knelt to pray
I asked for help to solve the cares of the day
The song had gone from my heart
The Lord heard my prayer
But only told me to wait
To wait - a difficult command
So I'm waiting - and waiting -
Sometimes it seems endless
I can only hold onto God's hand
But He promises there will come a time
When the waiting will be over
Until then, the Lord leads me and guides me
Slowly to the place He has arranged
And He tells me of the words
That He is love
That He is joy
And that during this season of waiting
He's always there when I need him

Do Hard Things

I don’t know about you, but when I turned 13 and officially became a teenager, it was a huge ordeal. I remember being seven years old, idolizing my babysitter and not being able to wait until I was just like her, complete with my hot pink nail polish, perfect boyfriend, and, best of all, that sweet independence. 13 seemed so distant and I was secretly afraid 16 would hide itself somewhere and never come. Wow, to call myself a teenager! To go to parties, have a boyfriend, my own car, and most of all, that make-up. Oh, the bliss of it all. Fun would be around every corner and life would be one party after the other.

Well, 13 came and went. Needless to say, instead of icing on the cake, it was one of my most difficult years. Later, I got saved and for sometime, I did not care about those old desires and Christ was my only focus.

However, things changed and little trials and temptations soon started creeping my way. One would prove to be my biggest trap; that term called teenager. A quick survey of history will reveal that the term teenager wasn’t even created until 1941. Before 1900, there was childhood and adulthood. No middle ground. Girls were ready for marriage by the age of 14 or 15, and 9 out of 10 boys were out of school by the same age and onto careers or universities! Today, you are considered extraordinary if you remember to feed your dog or make your bed at the age of 18. You are bestowed awards of responsibility if, imagine, you can keep your room clean for a couple of days. And if you can politely say, "thank you", oh my, just imagine the potential you contain!.

Ok, all that put aside, low expectations and the idea of the "typical teenager" have really wrecked some of the best years of our lives. At least it did some of mine. In today’s society, teens are EXPECTED to exist only for fun and not care about long-term affects, but only in living for the moment.

Most Christian young people aren’t any better. In fact, it can be quite dangerous because it is easy to convince yourself you are doing good just by comparing yourself to the rest of the teen culture. Your few steps ahead of them can seem like thousands. The most potential years of our lives are slipping through our fingers due to this lie that we are typical and we are categorized as being shop-o-holics, with headphones glued to our ears, and unable to function in a normal conversation.

Alex and Brett Harris’s book (Do Hard Things) addresses this issue and I’ve been reading it tonight and FELL in love with it. It’s super good and I highly recommend it. It’s very easy reading and it has tons of challenging ideas and thoughts. Basically, throw off that term typical teenager. It is a chain and needs to broken. These years will shape your future ones, either for better or for worse. To choose to keep on living selfishly as if there were no tomorrow, I can promise you, it will catch up with you later. You do not know what that tomorrow holds. It is not a guarantee that you will live until you are 80. You have no choice in the matter and your opinion does not count. You could die tomorrow and it’d be completely fair. Seriously though, consider it. What would you want your last thoughts to be? What do you want your life to be known for? What do you want to have accomplished? What do you want to have changed or done differently? You can’t just keep shoving it off and saying you’ll think about later, after you party a bit and then sober up. Life will not wait for you to decide.

There are so many things out there that we could achieve and so many higher goals then what the culture places before us, if we’d only (in the words of Brett and Alex) rebel against these low expectations. It’s not easy doing what we don’t want to do and not doing what we want to do. However, for the greater good, we should set aside ourselves and try to seek Christ and HIS standard in everything we do.

I’ll end with a quote I found in their book that I LOVE and is so going up on my bedroom wall ;-)

"Great faith is the product of great fights,

Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests,

Great triumphs can only come out of great trials"
Smith Wigglesworth (talk about a great last name)

Reflections over the last year...

This last year has been a rather difficult one for me. I went through several crushed hopes, difficult situations, and hurtful words from individuals who were, at one time, very close to me. I kept all my emotions and hurt deep inside and tried not to think about the doubts that were building up in me. However, that method didn't turn out so well and everything bubbled over early this year, into something that cascaded into one, big mess. I felt so lost, confused, and torn up. I longed for the earlier days of when I had been passionate about God and had been able to feel Him nearby. Now, I couldn't hear Him, see Him, or even sense His presence. It felt so dark and empty. I ached for Him, but was so lost, I had no clear direction of how to get to Him. So I kept praying through my tears.

Several months ago, I felt Him reach down and give me a vision of Himself rescuing me from the battle I had been fighting. He whispered it wouldn't be an immediate recovery, but, rest assured, He would heal my wounds slowly over time. Ever since then, I've felt Him bringing me back, piece by piece. I finally now feel whole again and completely restored. He is so faithful.

Life can be difficult, but I just want you (whoever is reading this) to know that He will bring you through whatever you are facing. Rely on Him. He loves you more then you'll ever realize. I sometimes didn't know if I'd make it through and some days seemed so heavy, I wanted to end it right then and there. However, sometimes what seems like the end is really just the beginning. Many times, God has to bring you to your end, so you realize how much you need Him. Sometimes, you must be so emptied of yourself, despite how much it may hurt, so that He can fill you up with Himself. The fiercer your fire, the more refined you'll emerge from it. I told God that I only wanted Him and to get rid of everything that stands in the way, no matter the pain. I guess He decided to take me up on it!

Several quotes that have meant a lot to me the last few days;

• The School of Christ (ok, this is a tad bit longer then a simple quote, but it's good)
  
  The School of Christ must break us before it can build us. It must exact so that it might fill. It must first conquer so that the Almighty King can rule. It must bring storm before it invades with triumphant peace. For the Gospel to be understood aright and to be exercised in its fullness in the soul of man, the ruin of man’s inner domain must first be exposed. For the benevolent take-over of our existence to commence, we first must realize the vast extent of our need for rescue. God has a plan to regenerate our lives, to wholly and completely reconstruct and reform us, to in a sense, rebirth a whole new existence within our being. He has a design to conform us to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29), to pattern us after the perfect temple (Ezekiel 40:3).

• The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually.
  Oswald Chambers

• You will ask me, are you satisfied? Have you got all you want? God forbid. With the deepest feeling of my soul can I say that I am satisfied with Jesus now; but there is also the consciousness of how much fuller the revelation can be of the exceeding abundance of His grace. Let us never hesitate to say, ‘This is only the beginning.’
  Andrew Murray

If you haven't already, read any books by Eric or Leslie Ludy. They have been spiritual mentors of mine since I was 13. If you are a girl, I *highly* recommend Authentic Beauty. They also have small group sessions that they have taped and you can download their informal messages at their website: http://www.setapartlife.com/. I have not listened to them all, so I'm not fully endorsing everything they say, but I love what I've heard so far.

Well, I'm scooting off. Anna and Alex have set up a tent in our backyard and as the night falls, nature screeches, and dogs howl, I do believe they are awaiting my arrival anxiously (with plenty of flashlights and hanging on tightly to our dog for a sense of security). Little do they know, I don't think I'll be much help. I'll probably be shaking more then them! LOL.

Thanks to those who have been praying for me. It's greatly appreciated. Blessings!