I closed out Ladies Small group last night with an
illustration (not mine) that they were not
familiar with, so I decided to share here too.
We all have hard seasons. Perhaps it was your
childhood, or rebellious teen years. Maybe your season was an abusive marriage,
or a divorce. Maybe you have a special needs child, a parent with Alzheimer’s,
someone you love has (or has had) cancer, or someone you love died or left you.
Maybe yours isn’t tragic. Maybe you had a hard time adjusting to marriage, waiting on a spouse, or waiting on a baby. Maybe you struggled in college or took
“too long” to become established in your career. What contributed to your
difficult season isn’t the point, only that you had one.
Now that you’ve thought about it…
What do you do with it? Hard times leave their mark on us. They
change us. The question is, HOW have they changed YOU?
Think of hard times like boiling water.
What does boiling water do to an egg? Makes it hard, right? TOO
many women who have become hard in response to their difficult seasons. In an
attempt to not be hurt again, they build walls, develop a tough exterior and
refuse to let anyone in. Know anyone like that?
Now, what about a carrot? Put a carrot in boiling water and
what happens? Left long enough, it turns to mush, right? The boiling water
makes it weak. I know women who have allowed their difficult seasons to wear
them to the point that they are just…soft. They just exist. They don’t feel they are anything more than a victim. Know anyone like that?
And then there’s coffee. What happens when we expose coffee beans to boiling water? THEY CHANGE THE WATER! Praise Jesus! Yes! Add
boiling water to Coffee beans, and the water becomes rich, tasty, and
full of energy-boosting caffeine… AND the longer we steep our coffee in that
boiling water, the stronger it becomes! See why I LOVE this illustration?
The only problem with this is that I am NOT coffee. Left to
my own devices, I am an egg. I shut people out and retreat to my peaceful,
lonely solitude…
But GOD shapes my heart and fills me with the fruit of the
Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness,
and Self Control) and THROUGH HIM, I become Coffee. Actually, I think that
maybe the “boiling water” of life allows HIM to seep out of me. Either way, when
I focus on HIM and not on my circumstances, HE uses me (and you) to do amazing
things. We get to see Him work. We get to be part of what He is doing. We get
to witness His mighty power. We learn what it means to “follow Christ” and to “know”
Him. We learn what “All things work together for GOOD for those who love Him”
means. We learn that God’s plan is best, even when it is painful.
Satan wants to remind us of all the bad that’s been done to
and by us. Satan wants to make us hard so that we are afraid to get involved in
others’ lives. Satan wants to make us so weak that we believe we have no value.
Satan wants us to focus on the worst parts of our lives,
But GOD wants us to be Coffee. HE wants to USE those
experiences to make the lives around us richer.
Think about the deepest darkest time you’ve ever been
through.
SOMEONE is in that dark place now. YOU can
be the person who leads them out.
Be COFFEE….
