Layer

Mel (my husband) and I are having a piece of furniture made that fits in a small and awkward place. We have looked and looked for a piece to fit the area but to no avail...so finally we ended up having one made. The process had begun and one day last week when Mel was near the workshop, he stopped in to see the progress. The body of the chest was white....and the top was a painted, washed out olive green. He took a picture of it and sent it to me immediately with a note saying that the designer's assistant said it "lacked a final coat that would darken it" But....It wasn't supposed to be white...or even darkened white and how could another coat of paint make such a difference. I called and asked George, my creative cabinet designer, if I had somehow tangled up my request. He said No No No....what your husband saw was just the base....come by this week and I will show you what the washed stain looks like and you will see...."we are on the same page" he said!

He was right....he called back a few days later and said come see...what he had envisioned was just exactly what I had wanted....it was a beautiful antiqued bluish green color....but there were steps to achieve the final result. He had done a wonderful job. There were layers....one on top of the other...and I didn't understand the process...and did not understand or imagine what steps had to be taken to get to the visioned result. Oh but he did....for this was his craft.

Layers....as we go through life we are susceptible to layering. We are layered by experiences, by people, by teachings, by readings, by beliefs, by birth order, by habits, by successes, by failures, by circumstances. But we all start out on common ground through the base of being created by God in the image of God. But over that base, thanks to Adam and Eve's fall in the Garden of Eden a layer has already begun to be a first covering...it is a layer of sin that we are all subjected to. And that has become the base that now is the backdrop for all other layers.

Unlike this piece of furniture...where we want the layers to of painted stain to enhance the ultimate design...God wants our lives to be in reverse mode. His ultimate design is to undo the layers...that we have allowed to coat out lives, and get back down to "His" base. We can try on our own...but the self scrubbing will only be a temporary fix; for the layers of distrust and disillusionment, and grief, and shame and sorrow have gotten into the grooves of our heart and mind and have become embedded layers. Only Christ with a His holy solvent of knowledge and offerings of forgiveness , grace and mercy has the ability to melt away our deepened past grievances.

It is only through God that we are able to be made perfect....and even that won't happen til we meet again in His heavens... But we have to be willing and make ourselves available to accept his help....on all fronts...even the ones we think we are able to handle on our own...I have learned that God usually knows a better way to do things than I am doing them. It is a process...His process....the fancy word is sanctification....and with his help we are able to shed the layers one at a time that we have posted and grown accustomed to....but in reality are tearing us apart on our insides and weighing us down.

How cool would it be if we were able to just jump in the shower and have all the layers of a stressed out day or dissolved dream or a frustrated situation or a complication health issue, or an anxiousness, or a gnawing fear.... just washed away. That is a pipe dream....for any of us...but what we can do each day is present whatever it is that we are dealing with to God...one layer at a time...and trust him to handle it His way...on His timetable.

We accumulate layers of emotions based on circumstances in just a day alone that can set us into a furry...if we let them.
But God can and will set us free from them...if only we allow him the "rights" of discernment in our lives. Each day we can get back down to the basics if trusting God...in spite of circumstances or people or relationships. One layer at a time...that is what God can and does resolve...or dissolve...or absolve....but we first must present ourselves as willing participants, must be patient in His process and most importantly faithful in our prayers.

Revelation 21:5
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Dear Lord, Help me to seek your bottom layer of truth and faithfulness in spite of the many layers that I have allowed to smother and hide what lies beneath. Let me be bold in my acceptance of your way...and be confident in your process of sanctification.... knowing that everything that is allowed or presented to me by you is part of your underlined result of purifying me. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!