After a crazy (ummm...let's go with "very scary!") night of listening to the wind blow, the trees crack, and my little sisters wimper in fear as they snuggled close, this was the site we stumbled out the front door to see last Saturday morning. Not even CLOSE to what some families experienced - we were so, so blessed to be safe and dry - but still very weird. Huge trees were down, the neighborhood looked like a lake, and I'm not sure how many times our "let's go to Sonic. It's hot!" suggestions were followed by, "Oh wait...The whole town is shut down."
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All of you have your own stories to tell about Ike, and may have experienced or seen some very difficult things during the last two weeks. Just a short drive away from us, people are returning to what looks like a war zone, and some are realizing that life will never be the same....Hmm.
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When our lives get a little crazy, or when our circumstances are suddenly far from normal, there is an opportunity to take an inspection of our hearts and additudes, and so I have a question for you.
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What did Ike show you about yourself? When you were hot, or tired, or scared, or bored.....how did you respond? What was your attitude like? What was going through your head? How did you treat the people you were with? What were the things that you missed the most? Air conditioning? TV? The internet? Cold drinks?
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Some of us may have been surprised by our reactions. I know that my Maker is trustworthy and good and "mighty to save." So why was I so very scared all day Friday, and during that long night? I know that the luxuries we have are not what life is about....that they can actually be a distraction from what I want my life to be about, which is focusing on and knowing and loving and obeying Jesus. So why did I miss facebook and frappucino and text messaging and my quiet, peaceful apartment so much?
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Craziness in our lives, craziness like hurricanes and life without electricity, provides a great chance to look at ourselves for who we really are. They can show us what our treasures really are (did you think you'd go crazy if you had to go one more minute without TV or air conditioning or a charge for your iPod?) and how we respond when life gets a little difficult.
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Let's take a good, hard look at ourselves. Use last week as a mirror or a magnifying glass or a flashlight on your heart and life.
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"Search me, Oh God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my anxieties. See if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24)
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Are you willing to let God "search you" and show you the sin in your heart? Maybe the way you felt or acted or spoke, last week, revealed some areas of your life that are not pleasing to God. Are you willing to ask God to change you, to help you to please Him in your thoughts and attitudes, to "lead you in the way everlasting"? Do you want, deep in your heart, to please and obey Jesus Christ? Oh my goodness, I pray that that will be true of us, girls!
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If there is any wicked way in me, I want to hate it. I don't want to be ok with it. During a hurricane or during perfect weather, with power or without it, I want every thought, every attitude, every conversation to please my Savior. The Bible says that we are to "make it our goal to please Him," (2 Corinthians 5:9) and I pray often that I will truly please and honor the One who Made me, the One who has rescued me from myself, and from sin, and from death. I am HIS. And so that should change the way I react to scary times, or annoying times, or I'm-hot-and-tired-and-just-want-a-frappucino times.
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When God reveals to us the ugly, sinful areas of our hearts (which we always will find, as we ask God to search our hearts, and during this long "sanctification" process in which God is making us more and more like Jesus), we should be disgusted. We should hate sin. And then, we should turn to the One who has covered our sin with His own righteousness, who has claimed us for Himself and is making us new, and obey what He said: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)
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Mmmm, that's good stuff, girls....to trust Him enought to say "search me," and when He does, to be disgusted, ask for forgiveness, and invite Him to keep "changing us." Ooooh, how we need Him to change us. And oooooh how beautiful to watch and see as He (slowly but surely!) does.
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Know that He is still working on you, girls (Phil. 1:6) and know that His purpose has always been to make you beautiful...to make you like Jesus (Romans 8:29).
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Let Ike be an opportunity to, well.... inspect your heart. And as we ask God to take away what is ugly in His sight, and ask Him to make us what He wants us to be, cool things will happen. Things that only God can do in our hearts.
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And that, ladies, is living beautifully.
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Because I want to give Him all of me,
Ashley
