Drain the Lake by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog Have you ever wondered what’s at the bottom of the Lake? I’m confident we could open a sunglass shop with all the spectacles drowning in the sludge. When you remove the excess, you reveal the truth. You reveal the bare bones of life as the dross burns off. “Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel;”- Proverbs 25:4 If you have metal, the impurities must be removed. Dross of a month! After hurricane Ian hit, I knew it was going to be a doozie! What crazy would happen here because “dad’s away.” I never imagined the mayhem God would orchestrate. Mayhem in many forms revealed the heart of the matter. I’m not as grand as I thought I was. How difficult is it to handle an entire household all by yourself? Poop patrol is all mine! (Two tiny dogs, tiny poop is ok) Watering the plants is easy! Cooking for one is not so much fun. Eating by yourself isn’t a festival either. Heartache is a choice. Happy days! With every whisper of doubt and depression, I’d go back to what God says about me. I’m his treasured possession! “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”- Deuteronomy 7:6 We can listen to the enemy’s lies and feel worthless and lonely or fill that sorrow with grand ideas! My plan was to get so much done around the house. I’d have tons of time! Time however doesn’t change when you’re alone. Life goes on. The lake of my life drained. I do leave the cabinet doors open in the kitchen. My, oh my. My husband was right. I never noticed the “things” I do. I do notice the ease of “I’ll get to that tomorrow.” Certain things never wait for me tomorrow. Mickey’s trained me well, “Do the dishes! Never leave them till morning.” Then it happened… Ahh, pizza sounded good, and I popped one in the oven for lunch. BING! The timer then BAM the oven handle came off in my hand. Grab a couple of oven mitts and I pried open the oven. Super simple right? I’ll let the oven cool off and screw the bar back on. Extremely effortless, but the two parts of the oven needed to be held together as I screw the bolts. It’s definitely a two-person job. Choices were to not use the oven until Mickey got home, ask a neighbor to help, or figure it out. Choice number three was victorious. I used the handyman’s secret weapon, DUCT TAPE! The glass pieces held tightly as I attached the handle. Truth be known, it took several attempts and a bucketload of patience. More mayhem, why yes, but it’s been God working on my heart. I can’t explain the beautiful change. Possibly it has to do with knowing I can. Knowing I can function alone. Being alone is one of the scariest things for this outgoing gal. I laughed and told a friend, “This better not be widow practice. Because my husband and I made a deal that I would die first. Funny how he was okay with that?” How God reveals the inner you will depend on circumstances. It’s taken 59 years for me to understand I got this! I don’t like it, but I got this. The Lord is faithful even as I’m not. I walked down that depression road the first week and bought a couple of containers of ice cream. Food can bring comfort, but this only brought a belly ache. Ice cream isn’t the enemy, the enemy is the enemy. The cartons are still full. Trials reveal who we are inside. Fired up and friendly I’ve been able to cultivate closer friendships. Lonely yet lovely I’ve reclined each night with reading for learning. Self-care and self-talk I fought off spiritual amnesia. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,”- Philippians 2:14 No grumbling is a challenge. As independent as I’ve been feeling I know I’m incomplete without my husband. The Holy Spirit has exposed my tremendous flaws in the past few weeks alone, but nothing makes the dross burn off faster than your spouse. Well, let’s just say he’s made me grateful. And I’ll be grabbing all the silver and gold! I'm still attracted to shiny things, but I know where to find sunglasses.

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