THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

My toes MUST be black and blue!  The book I am currently reading is stepping ALL over them!  If they aren't bruised, my heart is for certain.  In fact, I am down right ashamed over what I am discovering about myself.  How easily I become convinced I am being good enough.  How quickly I forget ALL fall short and my feet are made of clay.  This has been an eye opening and hopefully life changing read.  (By the way--the way this book ended up in my hands is a story unto itself---God REALLY works in mysterious ways!_

I am reading a chapter a day--to give myself time to digest after mulling it over.  Those pesky "D" words keep rearing their ugly heads.  Depression, doubt, delusion, denial, and the really convicting discontentment.  OUCH!  How easily I trot over to the road marked Discontentment.  It happens without me even giving it much thought.  Sometimes it even begins under the guise of self improvement.  The next thing I know I am sliding down the slippery slope

of discontent.  I find myself not satisfied with who I am, what I am, where I am, what I have, or any of a plethora of things I deem I should have, be, or lack.  GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!

WHY am I not in tip top physical shape (besides the fact I am not working out enough)?  Why don't my children and grands live in close proximity to me (as in on the family compound)?  Why have I not written a best seller (ignoring the fact you must begin to write said best seller)?  Why does everyone else seem to have perfect lives (I really do know this is not the truth--but they give that illusion so convincingly)?  AND that really biggie---WHY don't I look like a super model?

OH-the book addresses it all and shot an arrow directly at my guilty heart.  In a nut shell---if God knitted me together in my mother's womb--am I saying he made a mistake with how I look?  AND---if I truly believe God is omnipotent and The One who has ordered my life---WHY would I question where I am, what I have, who I am or for that matter anything about my life?  IF God is truly who I claim Him to be--then as His Word tells us, all things are for His glory and our good.  PERIOD!

Well this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to respectable sins

AND we all know there is much more to an iceberg than the tip that is sticking out.  So it is with our respectable sins--there is an entire list we have decided to look past---for after all we haven't murdered anyone---YET.

HERE is what we quickly forget---sin is sin---PERIOD!  The Law is not a long laundry list of sins, but instead is addressed as a single item in The Word.  The Law encompasses it all!  Our fickle attempt at categorizing sin does not fly in God's eyes.

I am thankful for grace, but convicted I am free to be obedient to what God  has deemed is best for me.  My discontentment is a not so subtle denial of God's gracious provision in all areas of my life.  

Black and blue toes are not necessarily bad.  In this case they are a reminder of Who God is and how I relate and react to His Person.  I am convicted--and that is a good thing.  With conviction comes change.  Praise His faithful presence and provision.

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length

 you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me,

 but you had no opportunity.

 Not that I am speaking of being in need,

 for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

 In any and every circumstance,

 I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

 I can do all things through him who strengthens me

Philippians 4:10-13