In Repair

Do you ever think about the roads you travel on everyday, what kind of shape they are in? Are they in need of repair, maybe with lots of ruts and holes? Or, maybe they are being repaired right now. Where I live they are in the process of chip sealing every major street I need to travel on to get to work and back home each day. Some of the roads are in the first stages of repair...all gravel...bumpy, rough and dusty! Some are covered in fresh oil. Still others are actually having the finishing touches put on...the lines being repainted on them. Anyway you look at it though...they are still in the state of being repaired. To me it seems like it takes them a really long time just to finish one section. Really, that's a bit like life. We are either in need of repair or we are being repaired right now. Whichever it is...sometimes it seems to take forever!

You ever notice how in the first stages of your repair it's kind of like God is putting down a foundation. He sort of spreads gravel all over you. It makes you bumpy, rough and sometimes just a bit hard to get on with. You just don't have that smooth...got it all together...look and feel about you. But, the more God works on your foundation the smoother you get. Pretty soon the ruts and the holes are all filled in with the gravel and packed down tight. That's how He begins to heal you of all those things that have caused the ruts and holes in your life...pain and hurt. Then He starts pouring His fresh oil all over you. His fresh oil is like balm. It seeps down into all the cracks and crevices that the gravel couldn't get into and starts sealing them up...then it goes right down into your very soul. Before He's done He puts the finishing touches of His Love all over and in you.

Just like road work God's stages seem to take forever too. In fact, He is never through working on us. It can be hard at times to not give up and quit when this is all going on. I think you just have to remember to keep looking at the big picture. If we never have pain...we never grow. Pain is for a reason...it only lasts for a season...we just have to keep believin'! We really do have to trust and not doubt that everything will be okay. That no matter what we're going through...how much we are struggling...God will make a way of escape. We just have to place our trust and hope in Him and not doubt. Then we will have peace.

Proverbs 3:5 (NLT)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
      do not depend on your own understanding.

James 1:6 (NLV)
You must have faith as you ask Him. You must not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like a wave which is pushed around by the sea.

Jeremiah 17:7 (NLT)
“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
      and have made the Lord their hope and confidence."

Psalm 29:11 (NLT)
The Lord gives his people strength.
      The Lord blesses them with peace.