Last week we ended our LL with how as His own, we’re meant to wake up and unwrap the day as His perfectly selected gift to us. This week I’d like to ask you…
Isn’t He just the Best?!?!? The absolute BEST?!?!?
I always feel this way and trust you do too but then sometimes He does something that’s just so incredibly sweet and thoughtful and special that your heart feels like it could burst. You find yourself with a goofy “I’m in love” smile. Oh, isn’t this just a dream to live like this?!?!? He is “...far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (Ephesians 3:20 The Message) Right?!
This past weekend is just the sort of sweet, thoughtful and special blessing I’m talking about. Since I’m living north, He’d told me before I moved that once a month I would drive back to where I was living so I could continue going to my same hairdresser (who uses organic products and who loves listening to everything that’s happening in the ministry)—along with a few other ways He loves to pamper me. They’re simple things, but nonetheless are so endearing.
As I was driving back up north, realizing I still had that goofy “I’m in love” smile radiating from my face, I kept thanking Him, running through each and every single event in my mind. Then He asked me if I “loved” “everything?”—triggering a flood of events I’d forgotten about. It’s then when I remembered some pretty difficult opposition while on my “perfect” weekend—far different from the beautiful flow that I’d been enjoying. I again smiled and without hesitation said, “Yes!! All of it! Even those bumps in the road made it all the more special as You brought me through, under or around them!” And that’s when I heard Him say, “Yes, these are the spices” and I had to pause, to think, trying to absorb the truth in what He’d just said. Then, remembered this verse I’ve always loved so much...
"O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" Psalm 34:8
"Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him!" NLT
Isn’t that so true? That if everything always ran smoothly that our lives would become bland and flavorless? Also true is that when there are too many spices, maybe excessively spicy, all you can taste is the spiciness. Very true, too, is that some people can’t stand any sort of spice in their foods, while others crave spiciness.
Even though I enjoy a bit of spicy zest in my life to enhance the enjoyment, I can’t say I crave an outrageously spicy life. I’m a pretty mild sort of person. That’s why when my life takes on various trials He lovingly brings me though, so many people (especially people who really know me) are amazed. My siblings know me and my life leaves them completely puzzled—especially my brother, the father of Monica and Lila (who you may have read about in the Salvation Story “Teen Suicide Prevented.”
Next week I’m excited to share more specifically how my spiced life catches the eyes of people like my brother…
Unleashing the TRUTH
What a wonderful analogy! I love the idea of being squeezed and having His oil poured over us as the dross drips out of us slowly. the pressing makes new wine and the old wine is being squeezed out. how wonderful how beautiful is He!!!