Gift Wraps

I love gifts! :) I get all excited; my curiosity runs wild :) Top that with appealing packaging, and an awesome presentation...I rip the packaging apart, look at it and go yasss!!! Now that's the good stuff. :) 

But then came that September! Bam! God took a beautiful loved one home.

Peeps, God challenged my 'love for gifts'. Surely I love gifts, but wrapped like this? Seriously? Ahm...timing? I wanted to send it back. Re-wrap it, buy as many stamps and ship it away, as far away as possible. 

But then He scrolled back through memory lane with me. Showed me some days when wholeheartedly, through sincere worship, I said YES to His will. That day when I sang:

For your glory, I will do anything…If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me…Whatever you’re doing in this season, don’t do it without me…and so on.

When we say YES with a genuine heart, God takes us at our word. He unfolds His will, gift by gift.

Of course, sometimes, in a gift wrap that you are shocked by! Wrong colour, size, packaging; at a seemingly wrong timing; in a seemingly weird path. 

But don't worry my peeps. :) As it was for me in my weakness, "...[His] Grace is sufficient for you..." (2 Cor. 12:9) and even the "...foolishness of God is wiser than men..." (1 Cor. 1:25).

The Lord has a way of maturing His Vessels through gifts, some wrapped as exciting acquisitions, some jolly roles. And then those. Those gifts wrapped as not-so-welcomed predicaments, tests and even valleys. 

"The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God..."

This is what that YES all boils down to: availing yourself to His path for your life, no matter which gift wrap He sees fit. Are you willing to do that?

~extracted from notes of the heart written September 25, 2012