God showed up to my mess…

I really needed to hear these priceless words from my friend Holley, as I read today’s post, “When You Mess Up“.

You see, after getting a speeding ticket & being required to go to 16 hours of traffic school this weekend I’ve been frustrated & angry with myself.  I kept saying, “what a waste of time”, when my time is so limited.

Well, God showed up to my traffic class.  No, the instructor wasn’t a pastor and I certainly wasn’t surrounded by Christians, nonetheless, God showed up & met me in the thick of my mess.

It was through my traffic school “Stress” exercise that God whispered to my angry self, “rest, child, rest”.  The exercise required me to write down several things that are causing stress in my life, then list how the stress is affecting me & follow that up with how I can eliminate the stress from my life.

The stress exercise required honesty, not for anyone else but myself. As I looked at the words on my paper, it became glaringly obvious that while I’d put myself in this mess, that God in His mercy, was meeting me in my mess & wanting to set me free.  The choice is mine as to whether I will walk in my new found freedom, or if I will resort to those old ugly habits that bind me from the inside out.

Being a Type-A personality, my struggle isn’t being motivated, instead, my struggle is to REST. With an already full schedule, I struggle saying no. I struggle setting healthy boundaries with my schedule & I struggle delegating as I attempt to use my gifts to help others.

I love how Holley points out this beautiful truth:

You will mess up. More than once. And you are not the first human being to do something that’s too big for God to redeem. Whatever you do cannot undo who he is.  So don’t ask yourself, “What have you done?” Instead ask God, “What have you done?” Remember his love, faithfulness and forgiveness. Then dare to ask him this question too: “What do you still want to do?”  This isn’t the end because he’s never giving up on you.

I was so relieved when I read those words because it truly is amazing to watch God take something broken & make it beautiful!  This weekend was very humbling, but I can honestly say that I walked away with a renewed sense of peace, & feeling rested.  God used my mess to break me, mold me & make something beautiful from it.

The challenge will come in my day to day activities:

• Will I say yes, in an attempt to please, or will I say no and choose to REST?
• Will I take on one more tasks, or ask for help and choose to REST?
• Will I choose to schedule one more thing, or choose to REST?

Today, I’m making a commitment to start living this verse:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 NIV