While packing my backpack for the 127th time at Training camp, I noticed a little string that was hanging off of my packing cube. The Lord gave me a metaphor about this that ended up being quite prophetic.
I want each of you to picture yourself finding a loose string on your sweatshirt. When you see that string, you recognize that it’s out of place. You know that if it were to continue hanging there, it could create a larger problem for your sweatshirt.
Your first instinct is to pull the string to see if it comes off. Sometimes this works well for you and the loose string gets removed easily. Other times, this is not the case.
When you try to pull that string, it starts unraveling. Your first instinct is to stop pulling. You don’t want to wreck the sweatshirt! More often than not, it’s better to keep pulling on that string. To unravel it to its core. In the end, you might just end up with a large pile of string. Your sweatshirt might be toast. BUT, that string could have been the sign of an all around faulty product. It could have been the prompting that you needed to get to the core of this problem.
The most beautiful part about this is that in the end, you get to restart. You get to create a new product out of this pile of string. The new item has the ability to be so much more beautiful than the original sweatshirt.
I was able to relate this back to my emotional self. During training camp, I had the opportunity to dig deeper into who I was as a person. A lot of the time, this made me recognize things about myself that I had never noticed before. My first instinct was always to back off. I didn’t want to dig into these past hurts. But what I came to notice was that when I chose to really explore my feelings and emotions, I had the chance to restart. I had the opportunity to explore the core of my identity and rebuild myself with truths about who I am. I didn’t have to live with those loose strings that were hindering me anymore. I was able to fully surrender my old self so that the Lord could make me into the new, beautiful creation that He intended me to be.
Next time you notice the Lord working in your heart, don’t shy away from it. Don’t be afraid to get to the center. Be willing and vulnerable enough to dig deeper into yourself in order to reveal the trueness of who the Lord created you to be.
