Reason #980
Well we're in the home stretch. This is the last month of my reasons. This has been a long time coming, yet it went by so fast. Three years ago on October 1, my life was forever changed. October 1, 2011 marked the day that started the most humbling, yet exhilarating, journey I've ever walked. And truth be told, I have yet to really determine how I feel about getting to this point.
It feels kind of surreal. The whole thing, really. There were moments at the start where I fully expected to wake up from a really confusing and complex nightmare. I spent more days hanging in limbo waiting for God to somehow, someway sort out and fix my mess. And I just wondered how much I could take. How much bending before I broke. How much squeezing before I popped. But the more pressed I was, the more fulfilled I was. It's not easy to explain how God works in our heartache. It's really just one of those things you have to experience yourself. But you learn how God's strength really is made perfect in your weakness on those days where you can hardly get out of bed. So many nights I kept asking why. For months on end I wondered what the purpose of it was. But three years later I look back and see that God allowed me to be squeezed for a good reason.
Proverbs 11:25 says, "...whoever refreshes others will be refreshed." But the truth is, we rarely want to pour out. It takes effort to be refreshing, and often times the opportunities we have to be a refresher don't appear to be, well, refreshing. And as I sat in my Jonah bible study tonight, the author talked about this very thing. Because in order to be a refresher, and in return be refreshed, we must be squeezed. Think of an orange. As a whole, an orange is unproductive. You can look at it, hold it, touch it, and throw it. You can tell that it is an orange, but it provides no benefit aside from taking up space. Yet when the orange is squeezed, juice comes out. All of the sudden, this perfectly whole, round orange, has now provided you with a refreshing drink. Of course, the orange had to undergo a rigorous process to produce the juice, and it no longer looks the same, but it accomplished more from being squeezed than it ever did sitting in the fruit bowl. No orange squeezes itself, but when squeezed by hands that know what they're doing, the orange produces exactly what it should. Orange juice.
If it were up to us, we'd never choose to be squeezed. Squeezing hurts. It's uncomfortable, inconvenient, and it changes our lives. Squeezing is painful, difficult, and sometimes embarrassing. We don't know how long it will last, and we don't know what we're going to look like when all is said and done. But when we're squeezed, we begin to produce. As a child of God, it should be no question as to what comes out, but sometimes we're surprised. Sometimes things begin to come out that we didn't think existed. We begin to produce a product that is far from refreshing. Yet if we stick close to God, if we continue to lean on Him, the very thing that is produced is the very thing He will use to bring glory to His name. Sure, we looked nice beforehand. We went to church, we read our bible, prayed regularly, and had a few key verses memorized, but we weren't really doing much with it. Really, we were just taking up space. We weren't spending our time refreshing others. Rather, we were spending our time being refreshed by others. We weren't pouring ourselves out in service to God, we were just keeping Him all to ourselves and going about our way. But we, too, accomplish so much more when squeezed than we ever did sitting on the shelf of life appearing to be whole. And we quickly realize that the real blessing isn't found in simply being, it's found in doing.
I've been squeezed, and I am certain it's not a one time thing. I realize that before then, I was an orange. I was sitting on the shelf, completely content with being. I had no idea what I was missing out on. I had no idea God could be experienced in such an incredible way. But as His loving hands wrapped around me this night three years ago, He began to squeeze. Drop by drop, I was poured out. Honestly, I felt like I was being drained, but He didn't let go. And I have come to see that when we're squeezed by God, we can produce more than we ever imagined on our own. Truth be told, we probably never imagined being utilized in such a way in the first place. But God did. He knows what we're made of. He knows what we'll produce, and He'll use it. As we pour out, He'll be faithful to fill us up. A drop for a drop so that we never run dry. In the hand of someone who knows what He's doing, He'll never squeeze you without a purpose.
#980 - For the blessings found in the squeezing.
"The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous." - Psalm 19:7-9
It feels kind of surreal. The whole thing, really. There were moments at the start where I fully expected to wake up from a really confusing and complex nightmare. I spent more days hanging in limbo waiting for God to somehow, someway sort out and fix my mess. And I just wondered how much I could take. How much bending before I broke. How much squeezing before I popped. But the more pressed I was, the more fulfilled I was. It's not easy to explain how God works in our heartache. It's really just one of those things you have to experience yourself. But you learn how God's strength really is made perfect in your weakness on those days where you can hardly get out of bed. So many nights I kept asking why. For months on end I wondered what the purpose of it was. But three years later I look back and see that God allowed me to be squeezed for a good reason.
Proverbs 11:25 says, "...whoever refreshes others will be refreshed." But the truth is, we rarely want to pour out. It takes effort to be refreshing, and often times the opportunities we have to be a refresher don't appear to be, well, refreshing. And as I sat in my Jonah bible study tonight, the author talked about this very thing. Because in order to be a refresher, and in return be refreshed, we must be squeezed. Think of an orange. As a whole, an orange is unproductive. You can look at it, hold it, touch it, and throw it. You can tell that it is an orange, but it provides no benefit aside from taking up space. Yet when the orange is squeezed, juice comes out. All of the sudden, this perfectly whole, round orange, has now provided you with a refreshing drink. Of course, the orange had to undergo a rigorous process to produce the juice, and it no longer looks the same, but it accomplished more from being squeezed than it ever did sitting in the fruit bowl. No orange squeezes itself, but when squeezed by hands that know what they're doing, the orange produces exactly what it should. Orange juice.
If it were up to us, we'd never choose to be squeezed. Squeezing hurts. It's uncomfortable, inconvenient, and it changes our lives. Squeezing is painful, difficult, and sometimes embarrassing. We don't know how long it will last, and we don't know what we're going to look like when all is said and done. But when we're squeezed, we begin to produce. As a child of God, it should be no question as to what comes out, but sometimes we're surprised. Sometimes things begin to come out that we didn't think existed. We begin to produce a product that is far from refreshing. Yet if we stick close to God, if we continue to lean on Him, the very thing that is produced is the very thing He will use to bring glory to His name. Sure, we looked nice beforehand. We went to church, we read our bible, prayed regularly, and had a few key verses memorized, but we weren't really doing much with it. Really, we were just taking up space. We weren't spending our time refreshing others. Rather, we were spending our time being refreshed by others. We weren't pouring ourselves out in service to God, we were just keeping Him all to ourselves and going about our way. But we, too, accomplish so much more when squeezed than we ever did sitting on the shelf of life appearing to be whole. And we quickly realize that the real blessing isn't found in simply being, it's found in doing.
I've been squeezed, and I am certain it's not a one time thing. I realize that before then, I was an orange. I was sitting on the shelf, completely content with being. I had no idea what I was missing out on. I had no idea God could be experienced in such an incredible way. But as His loving hands wrapped around me this night three years ago, He began to squeeze. Drop by drop, I was poured out. Honestly, I felt like I was being drained, but He didn't let go. And I have come to see that when we're squeezed by God, we can produce more than we ever imagined on our own. Truth be told, we probably never imagined being utilized in such a way in the first place. But God did. He knows what we're made of. He knows what we'll produce, and He'll use it. As we pour out, He'll be faithful to fill us up. A drop for a drop so that we never run dry. In the hand of someone who knows what He's doing, He'll never squeeze you without a purpose.
#980 - For the blessings found in the squeezing.
"The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous." - Psalm 19:7-9