Marred Intentions

You can only do so many loads of laundry.

& then you just gotta do something a little more exciting.

I had scrubbed my last dish for the day & decided to attempt a new "craft."

Finding the supplies = easy.

Why?  Because I break a lot of things.

Most things I do are intentional & with purpose.  My husband may argue with this, mainly because of the large quantity of phone calls he receives at work telling him not to take his shoes off when he gets home for fear of cutting his foot on yet another broken object on the floor.

But, God talks to me in ways not typical to ordinary folks.
(That may need to be a blog post all on it's own)

So, of course God has been teaching me through brokenness.

I was reminded yesterday that many times the spot that heals becomes stronger than it ever was.

This is true, even for the brokenhearted

 

 

In no way does this mean there will not be pain in the process of healing

 

To make my heat whole I had to cover it first.  I knew once uncovered it would resemble a heart but not until the time was right.

 

Jeremiah 18:4 the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

 

It was there under a slop of grout........and little by little I could wipe away a bit at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I feel broken.             I sometimes I forget.      

I am MARRED in Gods hands broken Intentionally for something

only He can currently see.

 

Zephaniah 3:17  Has been making itself known to me in many occasions lately

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

 

At first thought, being Marred in God's hands seems frightening.

 

But, picture this..........................being rocked, sung to, covered and quieted by His love.

 

For goodness sakes, each on of us is broken. 

 

And yet we try to cover our brokeness with grout...NEVER to be uncovered.

We are ashamed.

 

NEVER to break forth

 

 

 

                  

Why do we not allow God to wipe away the mess so we can be used to Glorify Him in the ways only He sees best?

 

Admit your brokenness and move onto to being stronger in those areas than you ever were before.

 

The world has caused you to believe that broken is not also beautiful........

so we hide away.........

 

We stop serving in our church & community.

We become closed off to the people at Shopko, at our children's school.

We even 'put on airs' & mistreat those who we are more alike than not.

& the world wins.

STOP pretending God has never had you Marred in His hands.

 

Use your new found strength

 

Let His better purposes break forth.

 

 

 

 

3 possibly 4

I set a goal this week to make a difference (for the better, duh) in one persons life each day.

I missed a day.

I was kind of down on myself

until I realized I still had a shot it-

On my down days, there are 3 possibly 4 chances I have still contributed to society.

 

 

One

 

 

 

 

Two

 

 

 

Three

& possibly Four

I realize I am not personal responsible to bringing him into this world......But, let's be honest

Where would he be without me :)



 

 

 

There are moments I feel I may be getting a little past my prime to "change the world" 

but, for all I know I am washing the undies of someone who will.

 

 

 

 

 

Broken and Beautiful

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands.

BROKEN

so that

the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Jeremiah 18:4

something Beautiful

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;

then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part;

Only then I shall know fully. 1 Corinthians 13: 12

Brokenness is not abandonment by God.

God is forming you into another pot, shaping you as seemed best to him.

For those with a heavy heart

fearing you may be beyond repair



I pray you see a reflection of God through me.

A fellow fragment of broken glass

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,^a

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1spkhp41ig4

-Enjoy this song by Gungor



"Do you speak-a my language?"

Of course I listened to Men at Work I come from the land down under before starting this post.

The very last time I sat in this spot
I was 13 years old
I was a far away from home for the first time, timid & afraid
 &  as my sister would say -"still attached by the umbilical cord to mom"

For any gentleman readers you may want to skip down a few lines.
Not only was I 13, I was afraid, away from home-
AND.......I had also just gotten my period for the first time.

Not really knowing what was going on I was pretty sure that this would be the last day of my life.

Those thoughts were only confirmed when a very sweet camp counselor brought me to this special place. 

----"Side note"  Can you imagine what was going through that dear camp counselors mind.  Chances are good she tried to pawn me off on someone with more experience in these issues but she dealt the short straw. 

Anyway back to my story:  When we arrived at this special spot (which felt so deep into uncharted territory) She asked if I had Accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior?

Inside my mind I thought:  "Hold on sista!  I really am dying aren't I" 
My audible words were:  "I don't know?"

I vaguely remember trying to repeat a bunch of words after her.

-PAUSE- Let it be 100% clear I love that college age camp counselor who dared to make a difference in my life. She planted a seed in a VERY slow learner is all.  Besides, how many of you would have stepped up and taken on the challenge of a  scared (guys skip the next part) New Woman that didn't know where the heck a tampon or pad was really supposed to go.

I am in my 30's.
Which means I did not die at 13.
I am bad at numbers.
But I do know it has been several years since I sat in that place where the 13 year old me had been.

The 13 year old me.

What I wish I would have heard that day.

I wish I would have heard.

Be you.  I know at times it seems so very difficult....but do it.....Be the you I have created you to be.  Don't be ashamed.  Don't hide.  You are beautiful.  The world needs you....just the way you are.

As the (late) 30ish year old me sat.

I realized

I was told those words I wished I had heard.

It just  so happened I was not from the same place  my camp counselor was from.

I did not know the meaning of that sentence. 

There are not translators wandering deep in the forest for just these types of situations.

They were words from a land I had not been to before.

I did not speak-a her language.

*another side note- I did grow up going to church, etc......
Different churches -Different languages...
most likely the same or similar goals depending on the region.


Words
Punctuation
-if you read my post at all you already know-
These are not my strong points.

So I do still beat myself up wondering....... How in all the world will I ever be good at proclaiming God's desires for you to be you.  Be His, eternally?

Well, it just so happened a friend I very much admire helped drive this message home by saying.
"We can not all be the mouth"

As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12:20



Yippee!  This was a big relief to me.
 It is possible for me to bring someone to Christ via bad grammar and punctuation!

By being me.

Now that I need not worry about always saying those big fancy words
I have declared.
I want to be the eye lash.
The eye lash does have an important job.
The eye lash can at time be a real bother though, if it gets under your contact.
 I am sure at times I am just like the eyelash under your contact.

But gosh darn it.  This is a great new discovery. 

Don't get me wrong.  I am still gonna :) Post misspelled blogs

.Getting this onto the screen helps me process.
 I may be just the solution for all those non-English scholar type people that understand things better when I show my weaknesses.

It just may be someones language.

I actually may prevent someone from living Down Under.