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Many times because of the trials and tribulations that we go through we
stop seeing ourselves as special and unique and filled with God's divine
purpose. What we must realize is that the hardships, the trials, the
difficult situations that test us to our limits serve a great purpose in
making us stronger, wiser and better able to handle whatever may come our
way. Just because we go through trials in life, does not mean that our
life is over or that our best days are behind us. The trials usually
signify that something better is ahead of us. (Psalm 34:17-19) (James 1:2-4)
We simply must stay in faith and trust that God has our best interest in
mind. It is in the test that a testimony is created and it is in the
darkness of the trial that God's grace and mercy is extended and shown to
full light. Be encouraged to see the purpose behind the trials that you
go through and know that you will come forth much better after the trial
than you were before it. (Psalm 103:11-14) (Job 23:10)
I hope this message encourages and challenges your heart to see that you
are special and unique and have much to offer this world.
IN THE RIGHT HANDS
“What do you do with all the junk?” he asked as he walked down the hill.
“What you see as junk, I see as possible treasure,” I replied.
“You call all that treasure?” he asked.
“Only when I see it as something else, something new.”
I've been working in my back yard the last few weeks. It's part of a “keep
myself busy” plan. Since the economy is flat and speaking engagements few,
I try to keep myself busy doing things that need doing around the house.
I am self employed. Well, unemployed. No, self reliant, independent, and
sometimes bored.
So, the yard and the shed need attention. Next week is clean up week in my
community, so we get to haul all the things we no longer need to the
dumpsters outside the township building.
There was, indeed, a hidden treasure in this pile of throwaways. It was
during my digging phase that I found it. My wife decided she wanted to
expand a section of the rock garden in the corner of the yard.
While cleaning up I found this tiny bottle. It's about two inches high and
a half inch thick. It looks like it had a cork in the top, but I am
thinking perhaps a glass stopper. Like one in a perfume bottle.
Of course, my mind begins to play with all kinds of possibilities. I
wondered who it belonged to, where it came from, was it a gift from a
young man to his sweetheart?
I showed it to my neighbor and challenged him with the idea.
“It's junk! Look, there's a piece broken on the top. I'd toss it out,” he
concluded.
Not me. It's still useful. I know every time I see it my mind will dance.
I like seeing it as a gift. Not only the imagined one from a guy to his
girl, but the gift I was given just because I found it.
It can still hold something. I'll find a small cork and add a little
colored water to it.
When I hold it I will imagine the hand that tossed it aside.
Junk? Just because it's slightly damaged doesn't mean it has lost it's
purpose.
Like me. I've been damaged, broken, chipped and after all that I still
have a purpose. God picked me up out of the trash pile, dusted me off and
found something new I could do many times.
Perhaps this time, writing is the one thing I was meant to do all along.
Maybe, just maybe, I needed to be broken and tossed aside in order to
fulfill His plans for me.
So, next time you pass by a lost soul, beaten down and damaged, tossed
aside and seen as junk by others, remember, that is God's vessel.
In the right hands, even a broken bottle is a treasure.
By Bob Perks
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
Psalm 139:1-6 “O LORD, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest
my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my
ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, Thou knowest
it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand
upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot
attain unto it.”
Psalm 37:3-6 “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the
land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and
He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the
LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring
forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.”
Psalm 37:23-25 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He
delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down:
for the LORD upholdeth him with His hand. I have been young, and now am
old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
Psalm 40:1-4 “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and
heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry
clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath
put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it,
and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. Blessed is that man that maketh the
LORD his trust...”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today's Selected Poem: WHAT IF?
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem16.htm
Today's Selected Testimony: THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony48.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry |
