Spider Webs

This year I seem to have been blessed with an abundance of spiders and spider webs in my house.  Ugh!  Seeing them and cleaning them always brings a little lesson repeatedly to my mind and my heart.

In my house, I sometimes see the spider webs.  You know, the big ones with a big old spider in the middle of it happily residing in the corner of my bedroom.  It is extremely visible and I know I need to get the sweeper out and get rid of the thing.  Other times, I can't see the webs, unless I take the time to shine a light up into the corners of the rooms and illuminate the darkness, revealing the web.  God keeps using these every day 8 legged creatures and their homes to speak directly into my heart, because there are certain things in my life;  sins, attitudes, and actions that are evident.  I can see them and so can everyone else.  I know these issues need to be taken cared of...swept up and dealt with quickly.  They are sometimes the easier ones to take care of because they seem like "bigger sins" even though there is no difference between sins.  I personally think, the "bigger" ones are only "bigger" to us if we know other people can see them.  We don't want people to think we have issues.....so we clean those "bigger" sins up right away.  However, there are these "little" sins.  They like to hide in the nooks and crannies of our lives, in the darkness where no one can see them, sometimes not even us.  To find them, we have to shine a light, be proactive and search them out.    Even if we are aware of them, we are not as likely to do anything about them because, they are so "small" and easy to forget about.  They don't really bother us and aren't "big" enough for others to see and judge us on.  So, in the corners they stay. 

This is what I have felt God share with me every time I get my sweeper out and start cleaning up cobwebs and every time I shine the light of the sweeper wand into the corner and find a multitude of nasty webs......It is time to clean up the webs.  The "big" ones and the "small" ones.  The ones people can see AND the ones that are hidden and "small" that no one but maybe I can see.  It is time to clean house.  It is time to stop making excuses and deal with the hurts, the pains, the anger, the attitudes, the secret addictions.  It is time to shine the light of God's sweeper wand up into the corners of our soul and then allow Him to sweep it all away.  And that is the great news, because He is capable of cleaning it all up if we allow Him too.  See, it was all already covered, paid for, and defeated on the cross of Calvary, we just sometimes hang onto it still.....cause it is easier.  And honestly, sometimes, we like to dwell in our secret cob web infested homes.  It is more comfortable and familiar to us.  We can sometimes be afraid of allowing God to sweep away things in our lives we have become used to and accustomed to because we don't know what it would be like to live without them.  If we allow God to take away bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness towards someone, then that might mean what they did to us was ok and excuse their behavior.....so we think it is just best to stay mad, punish them just a little longer, think and speak unkind words about them, because they need to understand what they did was NOT OK!  Or if we allow God to clean up a secret addiction then we may feel vulnerable in our emotions.  What will it be like not to have my drug of choice to nurse my feelings back to happy?  How will I possibly function?  Or what if allowing God to sweep it all away will cause me to loose my identity?

Here is what I know is promised by our Savior when we allow Him to come in, take up residents, set up house, and clean out cob webs.....where there was once anger, bitterness, and unforgivenss, that web will be replaced with love, joy, and His heart, His eyes, His thoughts towards the one(s) whom offended us.  Where secret addictions once took up residence, that web will be replaced with His strength which is made perfect in our complete weakness.  And our old identities, those webs will be replaced with His identity in us!  God does not clean out what He doesn't intend to fill back up with Himself.

What are our cobwebs?  What are the "big" sins?  What are the "small" issues in our lives?  Whichever and whatever they are, one thing is true....It is time to clean house!  It is time to allow God to wipe it all away and replace it with Himself and who He is.  Who is ready to do some cleaning?

Esther: The Rest of the Story

It has been awhile since I have posted.....cause I lost the Bible with my notes in it :)  Anyway, this last piece continues to be on my heart, because I think God is doing a work inside of my own heart in this area.  It is the area of patience, trust, and faith. 

In the last post, I mentioned how Esther took the time to fast and pray before jumping right into trying to fix the problem.  I like to jump right in and if an answer doesn't present itself quickly enough, I become anxious.  However, Esther, though she may and most likely did feel a measure of anxiety and fear because of the situation, still took the time to seek God.  The flip side to this, as you read the rest of the book of Esther is this:  In her seeking and waiting, she allowed God to work in the background in His time and His way. 

Often in my haste to find an answer and a solution, I bulldoze past God and try to make my own way.  Not that I am bigger then God or stronger than Him, but what I mean is I take control instead of giving Him control.  A lot can be lost when we do things are own way and on our own time.  When we forget to seek Him first and wait for His direction, we miss out on what He is doing in the background.  It is the stuff we can't see, nor do we know about until He is ready to reveal it to us.  But when we take over, we miss that part.  And that part is important.  Because, it is always His perfect will for us.  His timing and His way is always perfect and best.