STINKY! STINKY!

Hubby, daughter and I went to the Church to decorate for Christmas. 

 

As we entered, we were hit with an AWFUL odor coming from the kitchen.   Hubby knew that it needed quick attention if there was to be any chance of getting the smell away by Sunday.  He had to find the cause of the odor.

 

 My daughter and I gladly headed to the Sanctuary and closed the door where we began to decorate.  

 

My hubby, tugged, pushed and moved everything around in the kitchen to find the critter that had caused so much sensual awareness by his death.  After much investigation, the critter was found. Apparently, he had been having a BLAST in his last few hours of life. 

 

So the cause of the problem was found, now for the clean up.   If he had only found the cause, and not continued on with the next step, our Church would have had a SHORT service on Sunday!

 

He continued now to gather the clean up tools and took care of what he had seen.  BUT the odor seemed to still be present.  So he decided to call a Trustee to come help him look.   The trustee said he would be right  over (love that attitude!).  Together they looked in every nook and cranny, but found no other signs of death.

 

The spraying then began and putting the kitchen back in order.   By the time we left the Church tonight, the odor was indeed on its way out.

 

It is EASY to smell a dead animal - it is not easy to know they are there when they are alive.  But when they die, they cannot find their presence!

 

LORD, I pray that YOU will help us to be aware of "sneaky critters" that come into our Church with an agenda to destroy our Church, or shame the name of Jesus.   Help us not to be blinded by their nice outside look.  Protect us Lord, and keep us alert to any invasion against the Truth that may creep into our Church ...or into our individual minds.  We want our Church to have a SWEET AROMA of your love.  We want people to be DRAWN to You, not run away from us.   Help us Lord to be on Guard for any evil invasion.  We desire our lives, our minds, our conversation, our behavior, our marriages, our Church, to honor YOU in everything we do.   Thank You Lord for Your AMAZING GRACE toward us.

My Shattered Plate

How well we know the statement:  "I have a lot on my plate." 

Well, recently my plate became so full that I dropped it and it shattered.  I am not proud of the way I feel, nor am I proud of my dysfunction. I currently want to stay home and avoid all people.  I currently do not want to make ONE more decision.  Currently, I am cranky!  All this is not my normal, but it is my current reality.

 I am proud that I know my Maker, my Savior, the Lover of my Soul, the Potter of my clay, and the healer of my broken heart.  I know Him by name.  I know Him by faith! ........and HE KNOWS ME!

I have walked lonely valleys before.  I have walked scary dark paths before.  And each time when I realize I am on such a path, I start asking God:  What can I learn from this?  Teach me!!!  I don't want this "down, shelf time" to be a total waste.  Take this mess and  build within me to become a stronger messenger.

I am also aware that although I "hate" what I am currently feeling and thinking.....it will pass as I lay quietly before the Great Physician. I tend to lay still,  get up and run, lay still, get up and run - a cycle that slows the healing process for sure.   So it is not the Great Physician's fault, it is mine.   I need to surrender to His Healing Touch.  I am a stubborn one at times!

I am also very aware that I am not the only human being, or the only Christian, feeling beaten down and discouraged today.  Although that fact does not comfort me, it puts ME into a more proper perspective so the big "I"  lessens in prominence in the sea of others with equal needs. 

I pray, when I come back to my senses, that I will remember what this FEELS like, and how it does not just GO AWAY , even with prayer and Bible Reading.  Although the greatest comfort so far has been to lay on my bed and listen to the entire book of Romans on CD.  I stayed quietly on the bed the entire time, and gave God my undivided attention.   But I am still trying to function, so cannot lay prone on my bed all day.  God is still there, but somehow when I am on my feet (so to speak) my head is too noisy with "plate pieces" to be still.

I pray that when I come back to my senses, I will be a better Counselor, a better friend, a better Christian, a better person.   For I am clearly aware that my coming back, will be GOD.  I give HIM the keys to every room of my heart, even where the hammer that broke the plate may be hiding.

Most days, God gives me a song before I get out of bed.  
This morning He used a friend on FB to give it to me:

He's Able, He's Able, I KNOW He's Able,

I know my Lord is able to carry me through!

He's Able!  He's Able!  I KNOW He's Able!

I know my Lord is able to carry me through!

He healed the broken hearted, and set the captive free.

He made the lame to walk again, and He caused the blind to see.

He's able!  He's able!  I know He's able.

I know my Lord is able to carry me through!

 

 

Perhaps by the end of this day, I will be FREE and JOYFUL again.  

 

I would sure like that!

 

Sunday is coming, and I want to WORSHIP HIM and serve HIM in JOY!

 

My life verse has always been John 3:30: 

   "HE must increase, but I must decrease."

 

NLT:  "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less."

 

Thank You Lord ..that YOU are the GOD in the Mountain top experiences, when my life is all sunshine, and You are my Lord when all I see around me is scary darkness and limited light.   I trust You Lord.  

 

Heavenly Father, I am SURE I am more use to You when my head is straight, my feelings are not all over the place, my words are not sharp, and my smile is back.  So Father I ask that YOU will lead me quickly thru this valley and into YOUR sunshine.   Help anyone else who may be reading this post, and feeling similar.   Lord, I need, I want, YOUR healing in my life.   Heal me, Your daughter.  Heal your sick children.  In Your precious and powerful name I pray, amen. 

AWKWARD MOMENT

We had a NEW experience today.   As we were about to pull out of the church parking lot, we noticed someone's vehicle still there.  We thought perhaps this person had gone with someone else for the afternoon and left his vehicle there.   Decided we better check out the Church to be sure we didn't just lock someone in.   As we approached the main entrance, we heard something inside.   My hubby unlocked the door and sure enough a man was sitting in the pew just reading his Bible.  He had every intention of staying in the building in our absence.  

AWKWARD  MOMENT

Remember the days, not too long ago, when we NEVER locked a church door,  people were free to come in and pray as they wanted to.  BUT things have changed, and we (like other Churches) lock our doors to keep from being broken into.   For a moment in time, we both wished we lived back there a few years ago.   He appeared to be innocently content, sitting in a pew, reading a Bible.  BUT we do not know the man very well, so we know we could not let him just stay in the Church building all afternoon by himself.

AWKWARD MOMENT

How do you tell a man who is reading the Bible, to stop and depart the Church because the service hours are over and no one will be here????  Do you hear the tug-of-war in our hearts?   We both felt so "legalistic" at saying, he could not stay in the Church building....and yet we knew for safety of our Church, this had to be said.

AWKWARD MOMENT

We approached the man and told him he would have to leave the building since no one will be here until evening Church.  He talked about a waste of AC, that he could benefit from if he were here.   We told him, we just could not allow him to be here.   We did not know him well enough, to allow that.   He said, "Do you think I am going to steal something?"   Now I  am suspicious when someone brings up something like that on their own...but we just repeated, that we could not leave him alone in the Church building , he would have to leave.

AWKWARD MOMENT

He reluctantly got up....put the Bible back in the pew where he had found it, and slowly headed for the door.   Why did our insides churn at this assignment?  Is it because we spend so much time praying that people will come IN thru those doors, and now we are actually telling someone he has to leave.  Such talk goes against who we are at heart, and yet the safety of the Church is also our responsibility.  This was very hard on my husband (who is the Pastor) and I. 

AWKWARD MOMENT

I remember back in "my yesterdays" - when I struggled with mental illness - there was MUCH comfort in sitting in a Church building.  In fact twice I drove to Marquette to attend the church my Psychiatrist attended....just to feel safe and in the presence of the two powers I felt held my key to wholeness: God and my Psychiatrist.   There is safety and comfort, in just being in a sanctuary when the Church is filled with the power of God, like ours is.   Our services are bathed in the love of God's presence, so the Building itself is peaceful and a feeling of safety is there.  So I could identify with his feeling of wanting to just SIT in the church building and feel SAFE for a couple hours.

AWKWARD MOMENT

But the bottom line was, we really don't know him.  The safety of the entire Church is utmost in our position as Clergy.  He had already enjoyed the sweetness of God's presence, the Joy of our fellowship and the good food of our potluck.  So we knew he had already been ministered to.   We were not sending him out spiritually, emotionally or physically destitute.

AWKWARD MOMENT

Yes it was a very awkward moment in time, the kind we hope never to repeat....and yet we REJOICE that  someone wanted to "camp out" in our Church building because he felt safe and loved here.   May the LORD bring in people who need safety, spiritual food and LOVE.....but keep us as leaders strong to protect the Church at such vulnerable, awkward moments. I am so thankful that my husband felt he needed to "check" instead of "assume" that this person was spending the afternoon with someone else.   Thank you LORD for watching over us and giving us the strength we needed.

AWESOME MOMENT

LORD, I pray for this man who was wanting to rest in our sanctuary today...in the building that we call "Church".  Thank YOU that he felt it was a safe place, an inviting place to spend an afternoon, and a quiet place to read the Bible.  Please give him understanding as to why we had to take that action today.  Please do not allow him to entertain anger against us.   Father, work in his heart, meet his needs and help him to be all he can be for YOU.  Thank YOU, Lord Jesus!