Here at our ministry site in Nicaragua we have four teams from our squad. We each have split our days up to tackle a different job each day. Today my team and I did construction. We shoveled dirt and cleared out some debris on the property so that they could build more classrooms for the school here.
I love construction days because it reminds me of home and my raising. I have had a shovel in my hand and pushed a wheel barrel around a time or two in my lifetime. So today I was right at home and as we worked God began to speak to me.
I remember when I was a child helping my dad put in an irrigation system in our yard. It was blazing hot outside and when you mix dirt and water you of course get mud. So there I was muddy, sweaty, and just dirty. The whole time thinking to myself “I wished I was inside in the cool air. Can’t dad do this on his own? How much longer do I have to be out here doing this?” I thought we would never be done working, but what I came to realize later in life is that it takes time and patience. It takes digging up buried roots, working past ingrained rocks that have been there for years, and it takes perseverance to have a good foundation. Or in that case at the time, to have a good working irrigation system.
You see sometimes we as Christians look at our walk with God the same way. We wanna rush. We get impatient and don’t want put in the time and work to get to where we want to be. We just want God to put us at the top and Him do all the work, but that isn’t true relationship with Him.
It is so important to take the time to sit with God and let him dig up those deep seeded roots of pain, dig past those lies that have been spoken over you for years, and to allow Him to teach you perseverance and patience.
This clearing of the dirt and debris in your life is so key to having a solid foundation in your walk with God. I have spent most of my walk asking the Lord why this and why that. But God reminds me of the wise man who builds his house on a solid rock.
“”Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.””
??Matthew? ?7:24-25
Being in the Word and allowing it to renew your mind of all the lies you have walked in for so long. Sitting with the Lord and allowing Him to speak directly to your heart. Letting Him tell you how much He adores you. How proud of you He is. How much He longs for
you to know Him deeper. Is the very things that bring us closer to Him. That grows our relationship with Him. How can we say we fully trust Him when we aren’t willing to give him EVERY area of our lives? Yes that even means the painful and ugly areas. I mean I’m preaching to myself here y’all. He wants us to have abundant life and to stand on the solid rock that is Him.
Yes it hurts like heck to dig into those vulnerable places of pain and let Him heal them. Yes it takes pressing in and intentionality to cover the lies with God’s truth, His word. Yes it’s hard…but…it is so worth it. I can’t say that I have perfected this specific season of my life with God because I’m still walking through it. But what I can say as one in the midst of it, is that I’m so glad I’m not the girl I use to be. I’m so glad that God is taking my junk and making it into a beautiful masterpiece. I’m so thankful that He is transforming me into the very woman that He created and called me to be. And guess what….He longs to do the same for you.
So I encourage you today let Him clear out all that dirt and debris. Allow Him to grow you closer to Him. Let Him build and plant you on the solid rock that is Him.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians? ?1:6? ?
