My last post was all about the process of making, harvesting, and packing honey. Crazy as it may sound, the pastor we worked with in Romania – Raul – his brother uses honey as a ministry.
The percentage of employed people in Romania is incredibly low! Many go find work outside the country to find a source of income. One of Hope Church’s ministries is Fishing Rod, Not A Fish. Its goal is to help Romanians find practical ways to make and sell things the community could use this way they are able to sustain themselves. Of course through helping the people find these self-sufficient jobs, they are able to share the gospel and build relationships with them. It truly is a beautiful process!
Alexe – the brother – gives Romanian people the chance to learn how to make and sell honey. Now without my first post, one might think this is an easy, peasy task. No. There is a lot of hard, and scary in my opinion, work involved. It was a fun ministry for the day, but I can not imagine making my living based upon bees. Granted, that is based on my strong dislike of bees – not the faith I have in the ministry or the bees. Hahaha.
Going through the honey harvesting process caused me to imagine my future. My future in heaven. My future home that will be flowing with milk and HONEY.
Granted I know that in the scriptures, the Lord was not directly speaking of heaven. Even so, I can not imagine this earthly place to be any more luxurious than heaven itself. Regardless, as the honey flowed so quickly from the bottom of the barrel, I could not help but picture waterfalls and creeks of flowing honey in heaven. Not just the waterfalls and creeks themselves, but also myself kneeling down along side them and dipping in a finger or two to taste its indescribable sweetness.
The process of the honey, though, is what got me thinking even deeper. Honey would have never been a part of our diet today if someone had not asked questions, pressed into the labor, tolerated and endured through the stings, and peeled back the honeycomb. In my mind, it represents a beautiful example of my world race. Shoot my life in general.
I never truly gained any depth of understanding or knowledge of a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father until I began to ask questions.
Why are the church traditions not in the Bible? What is all this talk about the Holy Spirit and its power? Is there a reason I feel tugs in my gut and soul towards different things? I am worshipping and overwhelmed with emotions-why?
These type of questions triggered this entire journey for me. Wanting more truth. More realness. More God. Finding the answers was my pressing in. I dug into my Bible like never before. Shoot, now I even pull up a commentary and read from a study bible. I want to know all I can know about God, my purpose, His love, my worth, and everything else following God as His disciple encompasses.
What do the stings feel like? They feel like the mental and physical pains of trials and temptations to walk outside the will of God. Emotions that you have to so choose to fight against and choose God’s fruit of the spirit instead. Spiritual warfare with the Enemy and his spirits is also a daily battle of stings.
Want to know the best thing about stings? They are not deadly – at least not for me. I am not allergic. But for the sake of the analogy, they are not deadly. They hurt. Yes. They bring up an angry irritation if you get more than one or two. Yes. They discourage you from finishing the job you started. Yes. BUT THEY DO NOT KILL. We have the choice to endure and persevere. God always gives us a way through it. He is a good father!
Then you have to be willing to peel back the honeycomb so to speak. Are you willing to let God take you when it is your time to go? Or are you going to sit and fret your entire life over how it will happen? Does the way you live your life reflect your fear of the peeling process? The fear of dying? If so, why? If you are a follower of Christ, you have nothing but greatness waiting for you on the other side! Your destiny is to be completely purified, golden, sweet honey!
Do not let the Enemy create a fear where there is no need for one. Look forward to meeting your Heavenly Father and worshipping at His feet! Talking with Him as you walk down streets of gold. Loving Him forevermore with no more tears or pain. What a genuine life to look forward to you. A life of honey! Enjoy the process.
