What's Leftover by Lori Jackson
Just when you think you have something right, God swoops in and messes up your area. He doesn’t intentionally create the circumstances that make our lives messes, He just simply let’s whatever comes our way mess us up enough that we have no where else to turn but His Son.
The way He operates like this either has you raising your hands in praise, or raising your fists in anger, to God – and lately, in my own way, I’ve been shaking my fists at Him.
Turing the TV on…and claiming it’s the escape necessary from the everyday grind.
Embracing my phone more than my family at times…and claiming it’s so I don’t lose connection with people.
Going out for a cup of coffee almost every night of the week – and claiming it’s a break for me.
Starting my day writing or doing homework…claiming I do better when I let my writing come out first thing in the morning, than spend time with God (which I’ve been doing later in the day).
The truth is, none of these things are what they seem. They are distractions. The very things that have been slowly closing up my spirit and soul to deter me ever-so-slowly away from the passion God placed upon my heart.
What’s been leftover are remnant parts of who I am. Scrap parts of what has been a full-of-life passion have finally led my body up to the feet God’s throne leaving me feeling as if I’m about to be saved by His grace all over again. Leftovers.
Empty.
Dry.
Feeling worthless.
Is this really healing?
Yes, friends…yes!
For the only way we can heal from the lifelessness that slowly consumes us in circumstantial situations is by going to Him…getting on our faces in prayer to Him…and breathing out the truth in every tear shed and every whimper and wail uttered that He is the priority in our lives above all.
He is the one to fill us up beyond measure to the point we overflow and He spills out unto the world beyond us.
Many find moments like these depressing and unworthy of going to because how can a Christian ever feel such moments? How can a Christian ever feel so worthless and insignificant? For if a Christian is truly a Christian, then they will never experience things like this again…right?
Oh dear hearts…wrong. Absolutely wrong!
He doesn’t choose the ones who are always up, but the ones who focus on Him even when they are down.
Paul, Abraham, Peter, John, David…and many more…all of them (even in their circumstances and moments of doubt) had their eyes on God. They knew, and trusted, that He was the one to help them through their moments of living in the flesh. Feeling the pains that come with wandering this earth.
The Christian life isn’t one left unscathed, friends.
It’s not the perfection that leaves a permanent smile etched on our faces to the point that it looks like a mask.
It’s not always having the right thing to say.
No…the Christian life leaves scars so as to show our weaknesses healed through His strength.
The Christian life prompts us to our knees knowing we’re imperfect so as to have Him shine His perfection through us.
The Christian life leads us to His word so we don’t ever have to have the right words, for He already said them.
The Christian life is one of understanding our own brokennesses, knowing who our healer is to address those areas, falling to our knees and letting Him take care of us only as He can.
It’s a messy life. One that hurts in the flesh, but it doesn’t have to hurt in the spirit.
Friends, if you’ve been feeling leftover, dry, empty and insignificant due to whatever life is coming at you – devouring you either rampantly or slowly – you have the ability, right now to turn your eyes away from the problems, and re-focus them on Christ. He’s always there, never judging you or condemning you for letting this world get to you.
He knows we will fall, fail, break and shatter.
He knows this world seeks to tear us apart like a savage beast, and at times does a good job of delivering us bloodied and what seems beyond repair to Him.
He knows what we will go through.
He knows we will at times walk away for the sake of our flesh and this world, but He also knows the desires of our hearts. Deep down, inside us all, is a desire for God – even when pain buries it to the point we think it’s dead. The desire is always there, and in moments of our lives, they will shimmer a glimmer through our pains…and if we let ourselves enter into those glimmering moments, He is standing there face to face with us loving us with an unending love that spans time and the universe itself. There is no end to His love for us, nor His grace.
Enter into His glimmer shining through your lives today. Remember He loves you too much to leave you alone and leave you in the broken states you are in. Go to flickering lights you see, and begin to heal through the hurt. Give Him what’s leftover, and let Him fill you up again until you overflow.
