Wood, hay, and straw

Listening to a sermon this morning got me thinking....
The pastor mentioned that most of what we do will be burned up and only the precious gold and jewels will be left when we stand before God. 

So I dove into 1 Cor. 3:11-13 looking at it it looks pretty simple, but as I thought about wood hay and straw I came to several conclusions:

1st they are temporary.
They can be destroyed by fire, they can rot, they can be eaten by animals.

2nd they can not stand alone.
They must be bound together,mixed with something else of substance to make them work. Like nails in the wood to hold it together. And they use to put straw in with clay to make bricks back in Biblical times. 

3rd they are not that valuable and were in abundance. 
Every forest had wood and every farmer and family had hay for living andd live stock.

So what are my wood, hay, and straw??
Is it my volenteering, my time with friends?
Maybe it is more like the time I waste on the computer, 
or the mindless tv I watch.
But it could also be good things 
that God does not really want me to focus on.

Where is my focus? 
Is it on PRECIOUS things? 
What is Gold, Silver, and Jewlels to him?

Praying LORD that you show me this morning what is PRECIOUS IN YOUR SIGHT. That I can focus on those things and start getting rid of the things that will burn up and do not matter to you.

Her jar / His Jar

Reading a devotional I get each morning in an email really moved me this morning. 
And as I read John 4 about the Samaritan woman it hit me....

She was carrying a jar of water........ 
How heavy was it?
What was in the jar before she even got to the well?
How long was the rope that she had to have tied on it to get water?
How old was the jar? 
Was it handed down by her family?
What did this jar provide her?

Burdens and her hurt are what she carried in that jar even before she arrived at the well. 
Did it come from past failed relationships, abuse, or even bad habits she has tried and tried to dump out of her jar time and time again.
Was the rope a tie to her past, something she did not do,
 but a family secret?
Was she to scared to put the jar because that is all she knew?

Then she met the man who revealed what her jar was.
He called it what it was.
Showed her she was loved no matter what it contained and what it was tied to in the past.
He simply told her I love you....
Her response was AMAZING!!!!

SHE LEFT THE JAR!
Not thinking twice about it.
Sitting at Jesus feet.

Funny thing is that once she was free from the BURDEN of the jar she was able to go back and let others in her village see who was able to ERASE her past.

That day she got a new jar!
Filled with LIVING WATER!!!
He was the only one all along that could quench her thirst.

The real circle of life....

I have decided that I am doing a GOOD JOB at being a mom!
Now as PRIDEFUL as that sounds,  I am seeing God work amazingly in the lives of my children.
I have prepared and still am preparing them to go off on their own.

But this last week, my oldest daughter is gone to Germany.
She is blossoming and loving everything that is happening even though she is on unfamiliar territory  and in an unfamiliar land.
She is eating things that if I put them in front of her she would never touch.
Seeing and learning from someone else than her Homeschool mom.
She is meeting new people and reaching out without me making a play date.

This should be a huge encouragement to those who have young kids and are struggling to get them to eat their dinner, or not bite their little friend on a play date.

Beyond all that, I know I am doing GOOD because it HURTS.
The pain that I feel because I miss her, is because I have done my job giving her a piece of my heart.
Sending her out into the world with a piece of myself is what God called me to do 17 years ago when He gave her to me.

I know this is only her visiting a foreign country, and some day she will leave me (us) and start a life of her own, hopefully with a husband, so she can continue this AMAZING cycle. Giving of herself to further HIS CALLING.

Train a child up in the way they should go and they will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Let your hand be with me

Let your hand be with me.... that was Jabez prayer.

He was praying for intervention. He was hoping for action from God.
When I started this study it was so simple yet it has been so complex for me.
During the time of this study several major life issues have come up.
(that is why I have been away)
But during those busy times and those life issues God has spoken to me.
 He is doing an intervention on me.
Changing me from the inside out.
These issues will all come to "a head" as they say, tomorrow.
What has he spoken into me lately,
 BE STILL.
He has placed me exactly where He wants me.
He has had me raise my children for such a time as this.
I have been and am becoming the wife He has always wanted me to be.
I am the daughter of THE MOST HIGH KING.
As long as I am open,listening to HIM.
His hand will be with and guide me in all I say and do.