HELP, I'M STUCK!

Have you ever found yourself stuck somewhere that you never intended spending much time?  I have gotten myself into some pretty crazy situations in my life and have been locked out of our home and car several times leaving me stranded outside or at a gas station waiting hours for help to graciously arrive.  Although I have learned many lessons from these situations, apparently my special attraction to these nutty predicaments has now been passed down to the next generation.  One of our teenage daughters, who will remain nameless, recently managed to accidentally lock herself not outside but “inside” the main bathroom of our home.  It was late at night and we were all getting ready for bed when we heard frantic banging and yelling coming from upstairs.  We all scurried to see what the problem could be, but no matter how hard my husband and son tried, the door to the bathroom just would not budge and our daughter was definitely stuck inside.

In their optimism it seemed like an easy fix and they thought they'd be able to free her within a matter of minutes.  We gathered some tools to try to get the door open but nothing was working from the outside at all.  We soon realized that it would also be impossible for us to slide any tools under the door to our daughter because it was sealed so well at the bottom.  She tried to be resourceful as she found a pair of scissors in a cupboard and attempted to take out the pins in the hinges of the door but with no victory.  My husband and son worked on the lock for about an hour and a half before they realized that all of their efforts had been in vain.  The later it got, the more hopeless the situation seemed.  As with all of these 'special' family events, we’ve learned that we need to stop and pray for God’s divine intervention.  We've also realized that the sooner we truly grasp what God intends for us to learn, then hopefully the sooner He would free us from the situation and move us onto the next lesson.

It was late in the evening and we knew that a locksmith would not be available to help.  Besides the ultimate utter embarrassment that it would cause our daughter to have some strange guy come and rescue her from her very own bathroom, we knew it would cost money to call a professional anyway.  Although we are surely not against calling in additional help, we were really trying to keep this little event contained to our own family.  After praying, we realized our only other rescue option at that point was for us to go in through the second story window from the outside with a tall ladder. This solution was not the most desirable but there was no other alternative other than waiting until the next day.  We do live way out in the country where it gets very dark at night, and to top it all off, it was also beginning to pour down rain and storm.  Always striving to look at the bright side, I thanked God once again that at least we do not have close neighbors nearby who can watch us or videotape all of the ridiculous shenanigans we find ourselves in.

Although our daughter is usually quite a calm person, there seemed to be some evidence of panic and fear resonating in her voice as she desperately demanded  several times to be set free.  My husband attempted to comfort her by letting her know that we would surely be able to get her out in the morning when we could see clearly outside and the storm would be over.  Needless to say, she was not very thrilled about the possibility of spending the night sleeping in the bathroom.  This is exactly the kind of incident where parents may wish that they had trained their children to be better survivalists.  As much as we tried, there was nothing we could say that was going to comfort her or make her feel better about the whole situation. Her fear and panic turned to tears and we knew we simply had to get her out!

Dead set on liberating our helpless child from the recesses of the bathroom and demonstrating their protective manly abilities, my husband and son were determined to brave the nasty weather and dark of night.  Thankfully, our teenage son was small enough to climb up the ladder to the second story and climb inside the window.  (Because this has now happened a few times, our sons are quite skilled at climbing tall ladders, sliding through second story windows and saving the day.)  Once inside the window, he was then able to use the screwdriver and within a few minutes was able to disassemble the inside of the door knob enough to finally get the door opened.  Even though our daughter had resigned herself to the possibility of sleeping with towels on the cold bathroom floor, she was so relieved to be free at last!   Now we could all get a good night sleep knowing our fiasco had ended and all was well.  All in all, we were thankful that our daughter was only “stuck” in the bathroom for about two hours instead of overnight. 

As I finally drifted off to sleep, I wondered what valuable lessons we should all be learning from this whole situation. Since we seem to frequently lock ourselves in or out of our house, maybe God wants us to keep a ladder handy just in case we need to climb through a second story window?  As I began to ponder the crazy events of our evening, God impressed on me the many times when I had been spiritually stuck somewhere in an undesirable situation.  Although I desperately desired to be set free from being "stuck", it was my own pride that kept me locked up there for so long. 

We all have those periods when we have felt stranded as we endure difficult times in our lives and just want to be rescued from our difficult trial.  At times we become weary of struggling, feeling like we’ve endured enough and are figuratively banging on the door in an effort to be removed from our trial.  God has been teaching me lately that those are the times when He wants me to quiet my soul and realize that He is in complete control of everything.  He desires that we come to the point where we abandon our own selfishness and bow our will to His, eagerly learning what He has for us to learn. 

 I have come to cherish Psalm 46:10 that tells us exactly what to do when we feel stuck spiritually.  I’m in such desperate need of this reminder that I even have even plastered it our living room wall above our fireplace.   
Whatever kind of trial we may be enduring, we always pray that there will be a quick resolution to it all.  We want the pain of the situation to end as soon as possible so that we can get back to living a more carefree existence and carry on with our own plans.  We must realize that our God's ways are almost always different than ours.

I have learned that God loves us so much that He will not remove any tribulation from our lives until we have fully gleaned the spiritual insights that He intended for us to learn.   Maybe the lessons we need to learn will not be fully accomplished through a short trial.  Sometimes it is necessary to endure longer periods of being stuck to grasp the godly characteristics our heavenly Father desires to teach us.  We must have faith and trust God with a willing teachable heart in every situation in our lives.

We may even continue to remain “stuck” at times because God is trying to get our attention.  There may be some areas of sin that we need to deal with and confess before we can move on and live the joyful abundant life God intends for us. Many of us find ourselves “stuck” repeating the same lessons over and over because we refuse to humble ourselves and learn what God wants to teach us.  Wouldn't it be better if we would just take ourselves off the throne of our lives and put Jesus back on it where He belongs.  Refusing to let go of our foolish pride only brings more destruction to our lives.

We must not fear or doubt God’s purposes in permitting times of upheaval in our lives.  Our Father has a specific reason for lovingly allowing every single trial we face.  He uses those times of chiseling to bring us to the place where He wants us to be in our relationship with Him.  Job 23:10 assures us that, “He knows the way that I take and when I am tried I will come out as gold.”  When we feel stuck or locked into enduring our suffering, we must realize that God knows our path and desires our ultimate good from it all as He receives the honor and glory.   

Have you found yourself stuck in a trial that never seems to end? I most certainly have had many seasons like this in my life.  Like me, have you ever begged God to end your difficult situation but refuse to open your heart to learn the purpose for those difficulties?  If you haven’t humbled yourself in the midst of your tribulation, the time is now.  Sadly, if you never bow your will to His, you will continue remain stuck until you let go of your pride.  The next time you feel stuck spiritually, remember to be still and pray for God to help you learn the lessons He has for you, without delay.     

TREASURES DON'T BELONG IN THE TRASH

Used to be a knotty pine dresser from the 90's

One of my favorite hobbies is finding old seemingly worn out items from garage sales and thrift stores and giving them a brand new identity and purpose. I’ve even taken things from other people’s trash (with permission) and with a little bit of work have been able to transform them into valuable treasures. If you were to visit our home, you would find that I've painted and altered most of the wood furniture that we've owned for many years. I get a kick out of the times when movers have been apprehensive about moving our “expensive” looking furniture and have taken extra precautions not to cause any scratches or nicks. They're surprised when I tell them the armoire or dresser they're concerned about is actually an outdated relic that's been repurposed and any ding or dent will only add priceless character to them. 


Repurposing has especially become a favorite pastime of mine since we’ve moved to our acreage last year.  I’ve been enjoying the discovery of some hidden treasures on our property that I’ve been able to renew and reuse.  We found an interesting old wooden gate in our woods that I’ve decorated with greenery and a “Home Sweet Home” sign that now greets visitors driving up the lane to our home. 



Everything on our porch has been repurposed and will be enjoyed by our family for years to come.

When we moved in, we had nothing to put on our huge wrap around front porch. I didn't want to spend money on buying anything so I took on the personal challenge of attempting to furnish our deck with free repurposed items.  I prayed and God worked!  We found two very dirty Adirondack chairs hiding out in our little cabin in the woods that most people would’ve probably thrown away. All that those chairs needed was a deep cleaning and now look as good as new for us to enjoy.  There was an old rotting bench that the previous owners of our home did not want, so they just left it here. I painted it black and a dingy accent table from our cabin perked right up after a good cleaning and nice coat of glossy white paint. 



 My favorite discovery in our woods was a large wooden table. Judging by the cut marks and blood stains, someone must have  used it to gut animals on after hunting. I pressure washed the table for an hour and then applied ebony colored stain to it. We now have a nice picnic table for our family to enjoy in the summertime.

We've renewed and painted my grandmas old rocker and Richards grandmas antique ladder which have both served valuable purpose on our front porch.  I also found a free rug that matched our colors and another accent table we spray painted black to set between our two "new" white chairs.  I recently came across an interesting quote that explained my sentiment exactly.  It said “In the old days people didn’t just throw things out that were broken, they actually took the time to fix them.”  Although I don't enjoy collecting clutter that I do not find useful, I cannot deny a new life and purpose for an old item that I see has great potential.


I began questioning myself about the reason behind my slight obsession for repurposing. I must admit that I do like having things around my home that have some sentimental value.  Maybe I feel as if I’m rescuing and giving those things a second chance that otherwise might be thrown in the garbage. I do believe my passion for repurposing is mostly driven by the fact that I too have been graciously given another opportunity by my Creator to be useful in this life. 

Several years ago God took a broken, used up person who seemed to have no eternal purpose and sanded off my rough edges, cleaned up all the dirt and gave me a fresh coat of shiny new paint.  My fervor and enthusiasm stems from how I’ve witnessed God radically change my own heart and life when I seemed to have no hope.  My Savior has breathed new life into me and set me free to serve Him and others in a more passionate way. I’m so driven to transform old, dirty, grungy looking things because of how I witnessed the extreme transformation that God did on my heart.  2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, ALL things have become new."

Our all sovereign God has the almighty power to accomplish the MOST stunning and spectacular makeover on anyone.  It does NOT matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from or what you have done, our Creator specializes on changing the inner heart of even the most wretched sinner. Our Savior is the God of second chances. He is in the business of making old things new again and giving us a fresh start.  Our makeover begins when we come to God in meekness and ask for forgiveness for all of the wrongs we have committed against Him.  He is faithful to forgive, cleanse us and make us brand new.  Lamentations 3:22-23 give us an amazing promise of hope for those of us who are plagued with feeling used up. "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.  They are NEW every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." 

We are precious treasures to God and He never ever throws us in the trash. Our Enemy tells us the lie that we are too dirty, filthy and used up to ever be of any use again. We cannot continue to believe those lies from Satan who only seeks our destruction.  The God of second chances is lovingly and patiently waiting for our repentance so He can repurpose us for His glory. I KNOW He can transform anyone because He changed even me!  I love the verse in Luke 1:38 that tells us, “Without God Nothing will be impossible.”

 

Have you felt lately that you have needed a spiritual makeover?  Do you believe that you are useless because of past failures in your life?  Our God can take the most seemingly torn and tattered, broken sin cursed life and make an absolutely stunning masterpiece out of it. Trust me, I know personally what God can accomplish.  Please don't wait another minute to make things right with the Lord.  Life is a vapor and we never know when we will draw our last breath here on earth.  Come quickly to Him, listen to His prompting.  I promise that you will come out sparkling clean, shining like gold and once again become the useful treasure that God desires to use for His glory.