Monday, January 28, 2013

A Verse to Chew On

Life has gotten in the way a bit...that ever happen to you? 

You start the New Year off with a fresh start...inspiration...and a list of things you wish to accomplish or try.

Then something happens.  Sometimes it's a big something...sometimes just a series of little somethings.  The somethings might be good or bad or a concoction of both...but before you know it your best laid plans have been pushed to the side as you have been sidetracked or become slave to the tyranny of the urgent.

Does that sound dramatic or simply true? 

I didn't have a host of endeavors lined out for the new year.  One thing I did want to aim for was being more consistent in blogging...I haven't quite hit the target on that one.  Good news is, I can start again wherever I may find myself! :)

And so I find myself at the beginning of a new week and that means it's time for a new Verse to Chew On!

 
YOU keep track of all my sorrows.  YOU have collected all my tears in Your bottle.
This I know: GOD is on my side!
Psalm 56:8,9
(emphasis added)
 
 

Sometimes those somethings can not only sidetrack us from the best laid plans for our year...life...career...family...health, they can make us sad...bring sorrow...produce tears.  Have you ever had those somethings pop up in your life, uninvited, unannounced, unwelcomed?  Rhetorical question.  Of course each and every one of us have.  That's what comes of life lived in a fallen world.

This verse brings me comfort and hope, peace and joy.  It reminds me that God sees me...when I feel invisible...or abandoned.  It reminds me that the tears I shed are valuable to Him because I am.  I may never know, this side of heaven, why a certain something(s) decided to make an appearance in my life.  And when these somethings come to visit I rarely know when they plan to leave.  But this I do know, God is on my side!

And He is on your side too.

I love these antique bottles pictured above.  Each one is unique.  Each one is a work of art.  In my imagination (this is not a concept that you can find chapter and verse for) God houses each one of our tears (metaphorically) in a bottle as unique and beautiful as these.  God sees us a valuable...He is not only the Lifter of our heads when sorrows come, He is the Lover of our souls when tears are the only suitable expression of our heartache and frustrations, anger and fear.

God loves you. God loves me.  He is on your side.  He is on my side.  Circumstances may not magically disappear, but God (I love those two words together) is with you...with me.  We can trust that He will never leave us. He is forever faithful.  He has a plan.  He can redeem even the messiest of somethings.  He can take those unwanted sorrows and uncontained tears, bottle them up and turn them into something beautiful.

 
 
We just need to trust in Jesus...pour out our sorrows and tears to Him...keep our eyes fixed on Him and not the circumstance...invite Him to change us even more than inviting Him to change the somethings...He is on our side!
 
I hope this week's Verse finds you happy and healthy...maybe this piece of the Bible is one that you can tuck away for a rainy day.
 
If, however, it comes to you in the midst of one of those somethings chew on this:  Your something may have surprised you, but it didn't take God off guard.  The Bible tells us that Jesus is acquainted firsthand with our sorrows - find comfort in the fact that He knows.  Invite the Holy Spirit to turn your heart's cry into tears of joy as you proclaim by faith that God is on your side!
 
Praying for you,
~Michelle...ApronGirl

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