Melting Down to Your God-given Size

Melting Down to Your God-given Size

 

 


• By Barb Shelton •

Inspired by Christina Motley


 

Christina and I are prayer partners for the current two-week span and she sent me this picture of the snowlady she and her daughters made in their front yard…

 

She wrote, “Fun in the snow! ❄️⛄️❄️ Isn’t she just adorable??? We named her Meridith!”

Recognizing that scarf as not only being Christina’s favorite flower, 🌻🌻🌻 but as having seen it ON her person in one of her porch chats…

 

Screen shot of Christina doing a porch chat

 

…I said, “Meridith is just toooooo cute!!!!! ⛄️ Did she have permission to use that scarf?!?!?? 😆”

She responded, “Of course! She and I are already becoming good friends! 🌼💕❤️🍃😀😀”

Aware that the warming weather would soon have “diminishing” effects on Meridith, Christina added “I don’t think she will be here long, though…😳☃️🍃.”

So the next morning I asked her, “How is Meridith doing? Is the warming-up weather imposing rapid weight-loss mode onto her?!?! ⛄️😄

(Just so you know, we DO actually talk about spiritual things as well! Right after this I shared my prayer for her from Psalm 22!)

On our Thin Within coaching call (with Heidi and Christina) later than afternoon, Christine told the rest of the girls in our group about Meridith, and sadly added that the sunshine had been shrinking Meridith quite a bit. A few of us shared with delight: “She’s melting down to her God-given size!!”

Christina went on: “Okay! Here comes the good part, girls! All Meridith had to do to shrink down to her God-given size was just be in the light and warmth of the sun! Isn’t that COOL?!?!?”

I said “I feel a blog article coming on!” and asked Christina to send me a picture of Meridith in her current melting state. Christina then asked me to do “before and after” pictures of Meridith, and to “use my magic” to put a face on her since hers had fallen off…  which I did using carrot and leaf emoticons, and the “draw” feature of my photo editor. Not the greatest, but better than a blank stare!

 

 

So how might this look in real life? I started pondering what “melting in the light of the sun” might entail, and remembered I had already written about this very thing in a blog article I wrote a couple years ago called “How Does God Redeem Stuff?

In it, I share five “methods” (actions, ways) God has led me to – and used in me to – redeem many things in my life. Two of those items – “expose” and “soak” – are perfect for our snowlady analogy as they explain what it means to expose ourselves to – and soak in – God’s warm light!

I’m going to share those two sections of that article here! (Well…  Assuming I can get permission from the author! I hear she’s quite a stickler!)

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EXPOSING

Let’s start by thinking of a rock on the ground.  It’s been sitting in the sunshine, so it’s nice and dry and warm…

 

Turn the rock over, and what might you see on the underside of that rock? … Scampering bugs, wiggling worms, dirt, mud.

What’s the best way to get the underside of that rock as warm, dry, smooth, clean and bug-free as the top of it? Should we urge the rock to go to a rock spa and get a make-over and scrub itself off?

Nope! Just turn it over and expose it to the Sun! Given a little time, the wet-turned-dry dirt can just be brushed off, leaving that underside nice ‘n’ clean – with no effort whatsoever on the part of the rock! All it had to do was let itself be exposed tot he warm rays of the sun.

Need a human picture? This guy is perfectly emulating this concept:

 

 

Likewise, I have had many bug-infested “rocks” in my life. Rather than try to clean myself up, the Lord has many times led me to just allow Him to gently turn one of my [many] rocks over in His loving hand and expose it to His warming, penetrating, healing, freshening rays! – which do all of the healing, cleansing work! All I had to do was simply lay there with my wound, dirt, or ugliness exposed to Him!

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SOAKING

My mother-in-love made the most amazing pickles! But they didn’t start out their pickley lives as winners. They began as dill – or, for the sake of our analogy, we’ll call them sour pickles.

To be transformed into the amazing sweet pickles they became, all they had to do was SOAK in the NEW brine that I put them in!

 

 

What does that brine consist of? 3 cups of sugar and 1 cup of vinegar. (See my “Grandma Shelton’s Rebrined Pickles” blog post for the recipe and directions.)

Two of the “sweetest” things we can soak in are:    

  • God’s Word, the Bible – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
  • Worship – Whatever we look at, we become more like it. The more we focus on fashion, the more we want to be fashionable. (And thin!) The more we focus on food, the more we want it. But as we dwell on the Lord, the more we want Him, and the more we actually become like Him! And “As the Spirit of the Lord works in us, we become more and more like Him.”   

(In the article I share a bitter, “vinegar-esque” thing we might soak in that actually aids in the transformation process, but we’ll just stay with the sugar aspect here.)

These pickles take a week to be completely transformed into the best pickles I have ever tasted! EVER!!! And they didn’t even have to go on a self-improvement kick! They just soaked in that transforming brine, getting sweeter as the days went by!

Likewise, if we soak in God’s Word, letting His “higher thoughts” soak into us, renewing our minds…  If we get our eyes off of our sour selves and worship our mighty, loving God, we will become more and more like Him, and get sweeter as the days, months, and years go by!

 


 

So thank you, Christina and girls, for creating Meridith and sharing her with us, thereby inspiring any of us who are struggling to melt down to our natural God-given size to:

• lay down our striving to fix ourselves and…

• simply spend more time exposing ourselves to the Son, soaking in His healing warmth.

 

 

 


 

 

Don’t Hang Up on God!

Don’t Hang Up on God!


One day, I was out shopping with my youngest son of four children. Weaving our way through many aisles, we eventually found ourselves in the cereal aisle.

With a house full of cereal eaters, which cereals I buy is always up for debate. I don’t know about your house, but in mine, food-consuming humans change their minds about this issue like the wind changes direction.

There we stood, unable to decide which cereals to bring home.

So, I did what any normal mother would do, I called my most finicky teenager for his opinion. Why waste time and money, right?

The conversation went something like this:

“Hey, I’m at the grocery and I’m in the cereal aisle. What do you want me to get? There’s this, there’s that…”

And in a very hurried voice, he shouted “I don’t know. Just get something sugary!” and promptly hung up on me.

I could hear other boys in the background. He was, quite obviously, distracted.

Well okay then, I let my youngest pick them out.

Later that evening, the picky one messaged me. He sort of apologized for hanging up on me and said “I didn’t mean to seem rude. I was just being rushed by everyone else.”

The Holy Spirit asked me, in that moment, “How many times do you do that to me, Kelly?” … Mic drop!

With endless demands of family, pets, work, church, and my eternal to-do lists, how many times do those things rush me, and I hang up on God? Or I cut my time with Him short.

All too often, I’m afraid.

I can easily say, “I’m so sorry, God; I’m not trying to be rude” and blame so many things for taking me away from Him and what He wants to talk to me about.

When all was said and done, I was not angry with my son. A little exasperated, maybe. I definitely appreciated his pseudo-apology. And, it was definitely not the way he usually engages with me. Yet, I never really thought about how often I do this to my Lord.

Am I taking advantage of Him because of verses like Romans 8:1 that says:

“There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus?” (NLT)

Or, is God even hurt that I cut Him off? Is He exasperated when I hang up on Him?

Ephesians 4:30 in The Message Bible says:

“Don’t grieve God. Don’t break His heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.”

Ouch! Perhaps there are several yeses to those questions.

Helen Simons, in her blog for Brunstad Christian Church writes:

“We live in a fast-paced society, and most of us live a fast-paced lifestyle, with fast travel, fast communication, fast access to a wealth of information, etc. If, in the middle of this, I do not consciously set my mind on the things of the Spirit, I will not be able to hear his still small voice in my heart of hearts. When I do not listen to Him, I end up grieving the Holy Spirit, because He has so much to tell me that will bring me joy and happiness, and bring me to a life of freedom from sin and self.”

I might add fast food to her list!

I will say that, as I have hit the “change” of life, my body has begun to force me to slow down. I could fill my schedule regularly, but my body won’t cooperate.

I love being able to “do it all!” But at what expense? There is value in slowing down and not “hanging up” on God just to get to the things that are rushing me.

The sink full of dirty dishes can wait. The never-ending laundry can wait. Even meals can sometimes wait as I read, listen to a sermon, and respond to class participants and coaching clients. It actually feels good to stop, look, and listen to God.

When I do take the time to listen, I hear Him say “Worship me in song right now,” and He will lead me to just the right music on my playlist or the radio.

I can hear Him whisper “Go look in my Word” or in a certain book, and I’m instantly transported into the spiritual realm as He speaks directly to my heart and soul with just the right words.

If I slow down and listen, I can hear Him ask me  “Will you pray for this person” or “I want you to confess to me.”

He is always in the business of setting my soul to be rightly related to Him. Here is where His power is stirred within me and my faith increases!

Ephesians 5:16-18 in the NLT says,

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

Amen and Hallelujah!

So I am making it a point to not hang up on God; to not, in essence, tell Him “I’ll call you back when these other things aren’t rushing me!”

I don’t want to fall into the trap of blaming other things in order to avoid talking and listening to God.

My heart’s desire is to be sure I do not hang up on God because He has so much more – and such greater things – to talk to me about than a favorite cereal.

 


 

Recognizing and Choosing “The Better Part”

Recognizing and Choosing “The Better Part”

“Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”  (Luke 10:42)

For many of us, doing comes much more naturally than being. Which means that spending time with the Lord may not come as easily as doing things for Him. This struggle goes way back to Mary and Martha…

Martha is known for being frustrated about not getting any assistance while preparing food for their guests – one of whom was Jesus Himself. And her sister, Mary, was of NO help! She was just sitting at Jesus’ feet, visiting with Him instead of helping Martha.

I imagine Martha, in the middle of kneading a loaf of bread, calling out to the living room “Mary! Could you come and grease a bread pan for me?” Mary doesn’t budge. So Martha complains to Jesus saying He should tell Mary to get up and help her in the kitchen.

 

Jesus’ response “Martha, you are concerned about many things…” had to have frustrated her. I know it would have frustrated me! I would have wanted to say this back to Him: 

“Well YESSSS I’m concerned about many things! Of course I am! I’m trying to get a nice meal fixed here, and, thanks to Mary who’s just sitting out here in the living room with You, I’m doing it all MYSELF!!!”

There’s probably not any way I could have said that respectfully, and hopefully I would have had enough sense to not say it, but knowing me…  

So Jesus continued with His famous words:

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”  (Luke 10:41-42)

“The better part.”  ::heavy:::sigh::  That is what I want to talk about today, because this “better part” does not come naturally for me.

I do desire to spend time with God, but I’m sad to say that I’d rather DO stuff for Him than just sit at His feet…  and be quiet…  and listen.

One reason is that it’s hard to pull away from all the stuff I want to get done! 

Another reason is that because, when I do just sit with Him, I don’t feel like I “hear” anything or like anything’s happening. It’s just quiet::crickets::  So this just confirms that I’m not as spiritual as I’d like to think I am, or else I’d be hearing something. So I’d better get busy doing something spiritual to quench that uncomfortable feeling or to try to make myself more spiritual.

Or else I just fall asleep.

Mary definitely had an advantage with Jesus’ feet being physically present. She wasn’t just metaphorically “sitting at His feet”; she was literally sitting at His feet. While He was actually talking…  to her… in person… with His actual feet right there – one foot away… or one cubit, or whatever it was.

If Jesus were in my actual living room in person, I would have nooooo problem sitting at His feet. But since He’s not, I need some help and enlightenment… which I got in the form of a Facetime call from our grandson, Weston, age 9…

He Facetimed me at 10am one day. I would never have answered a call that I could be seen in pre-makeup-and-hair-being-done from anyone but a grandpunkin. But I figured he wouldn’t be calling if he didn’t have something important to say. Besides, I knew he wouldn’t care how I looked.

But I did. And it was not good! So I seriously considered blurring the little pictures of me on the screens. (I had NO thoughts whatsoever of these being seen in a blog post!) But I ultimately decided to just be real and keep them as-is.

 

Weston told me about something he wanted me to change on a “Special Memories with Gramma and Grampa” notebook page I have them do here at our house. But, after doing so, rather than hanging up, he just kept talking…  and talking…  telling me about all sorts of things!

After a while, his mom (our daughter Sharnessa) told him he needed to get off the phone and do his tasks, but he wanted to keep me on while he did them – which she let him, and he did! As he unloaded the dishwasher, he continued telling me about the many ideas and plans he felt I needed to know about.

And finishing the dishes, he took me around the house showing me many things, assuming I’d be interested in every little detail!

I loved it and was certainly not going to be the one to go! So an hour and a half later, we were still on! It was so precious for him to be sharing all this with me. And I documented it with screenshots! My purpose in sharing these isn’t to show high-quality pictures – cuz most are blurry. I just want to bring you into my sweet experience…

(In many of them, I look distressed, but I wasn’t; I was just squinting to figure out what he was showing me! – no small feat because this boy has one speed: FAST!)

 

MY SCREENSHOT TOUR

He showed me seeds they’d gotten at an Earth Day Fair, which are encased in “disks that look like spaceships!”

 

…and a page he’d done in his USA notebook…

 

…the sprinkles on his hot cocoa…

 

which, as he later told me: “They just basically disintegrated, Gramma!”

 

He showed me the melted-plastic ornaments he and Chase had made…

 

…and his plans for a 3-layer cake he wanted to make with me on our next Grandma’s Day. He’d drawn a diagram and we discussed how to make it work logistically.

 

…and the orange “plushy” they turned into the Sun for their Solar System in their homeschool room.

 

“And, Gramma! These are supposedly eggs, but they’re actually SOAPS!!!”

 

“And here’s our hotel phone that actually works!”

 

Then onto to their backyard…

 

…and the crawl space opening – which he knew I would love to see!

 

We live in the same town, and I’d been to their home countless times, so I’m very familiar with their house and already knew about almost everything he showed me! But I was delighted to listen to Weston, not because I was getting new information, but because connection happens in the time we spend together! 

 

WHAT GRAMMA LEARNED

As one might guess, the Lord spoke to my heart sweetly, deeply, and profoundly through this!

Weston had shared his ideas with me, his plans, things he had made, items he found amusing, and his beverage. He wanted me to be there while he worked, and told me his thoughts even as they were formulating in his head!

Basically, Weston just wanted to hang out with me!

He wasn’t a bit concerned about how anything sounded. He wasn’t even concerned about having – or not having – anything to say. There were several silences, but they weren’t awkward for Weston! He had no doubt I wanted to stay.

He loved my responses…  and I loved listening to him and responding!

The Lord showed me that, in “all the above,” Weston was choosing, in a very simple but real way, “the better part”!

Better than what? Better than doing things for me… Better than doing his own thing without me. Not that those are wrong! But being with me was just better!

And the Lord showed me that this is exactly how He wants me to be with Him!

He delights in me sharing my thoughts, plans, and ideas with Him.

He wants to hear about things I think are cool or beautiful.

He’s delighted to help me with challenging projects that are totally overwhelming to me. (Which is often!)

He wants to hear about a hope or dream that has “basically disintegrated” and show me what to do next.

He not only has no problem with silence; He knows that good stuff happens in time quietly spent with Him…  like healing, solutions, forgiveness, joy, heart-softening, and the calming of storms.

All of which is exactly why He invites us to…

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10)

 

So telling God about things He already sees and knows is neither a waste of time nor an insult. Even though He already sees and knows it all, He still wants us to come and tell Him everything, because connection happens in the time we spend together! 

“I, the LORD, invite you to come and talk it over…” (Isaiah 1:18)

We are not on our own, expected to sort and solve our messes by ourselves. He offers us “the better part,” which is sitting at His feet and pouring out our hearts to Him – our ideas, hurts, plans, frustrations, failures, victories, delights, sins, and even the stuff that makes us angry,

“Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge.” (Psalms 62:8)

He wants to be our “safe place” for all our heart-outpouring.

Are you in need of a Personal Refuge, One who’s concerned about every little detail that concerns you? I sure am! And this is “the better part” that we have access to 24/7, if we’ll only cease my doing for a while and come to Him!

“My heart has heard You say, ‘Come and talk with Me, oh my people,’ and my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming’!” (Psalms 27:8)

 


 

 


 

[A portion of this article was adapted from my “Commune With Me Guide” article on my Honeycomb Oasis blog.]