I was spending time with the Lord this morning in my usual way. I shuffled into my office, took a comfy seat and grabbed my Bible. I assumed He would lead me into scripture reading but instead He prompted me to pray. I spent some time in prayer and then as I was just sitting with the Lord, I glanced over at my craft table and the Lord said to go do something creative and fun. If you know me, you know that my craft table is billowing over with half finished projects, so I was unsure what "fun" thing I should do. Without too much thought I started to paint a sweet little unfinished project. While waiting for the paint to dry I noticed a little perfume bottle that had broken. I had it sitting on my craft table so that I could glue a seashell on the top where it had broken. Before I even glued the shell on I had torn off some tape to tape it into place as the glue dried. After a few minutes I checked on it and it was being pulled by the tape and was shifting, slipping from the place I wanted it to be. The Lord spoke to me in that moment. What does this tape represent? Remove the tape. Let the shell rest on the top of the bottle. Don't touch it. When the Lord said this the temptation to touch it instantly overwhelmed me. I just stared at it. I wanted to adjust it, check it and make sure it was in the right place. But in that moment I resisted. A little while later as this small (yet HUGE) experience was rolling around in my mind I decided to go take a picture of the bottle. You know what? That shell was still beautifully resting on top of the bottle, in spite of the chaos all around it. Am I the broken vessel? Or the beautiful shell resting on a firm foundation? Or both? There are so many revelations in this seemingly small event of my day. It reminded me of a note a sweet friend wrote to me at a recent retreat. It was a word from our Lord, "Your brokeness is beautiful to me. Do not hide it. Bring it to Me I will show you how my glory transforms it into beauty". While I am still unpacking this moment in time and there is still so much the Lord has to share with me, I wanted to share it with you. It may speak to you as well. Here are some scriptures to rest in:
Psalm 34:18
Psalm 51:17
2 Corinthians 12:9