Playing Dress-Up

As a little girl I often played dress-up. Putting on my mommas dresses and high heels.  Pretending to be somebody I wasn’t.  No matter how much make up I put on, or how fancy the clothes….I was still just me!  No matter how many jangle bracelets I slipped on my arm or rings on my fingers…..I was still just me.  Though it was wonderful to play…..like I was someone else…..in all reality….I was still just me!

And we still do that as adults don’t we?  We play “dress-up” when we put on our pretty clothes and make-up and pretend everything is going great, when our worlds might be falling apart.  We think if we just pretend the situation will go away.  We run away from our problems when we play dress-up instead of facing them in faith and prayer.

BUT who we are is still there when we take off all our “dress-up clothes and make-up”.   When we crawl in bed, and there is no one to impress we find we are still the same person as always.

Moses knew he was a Hebrew, yet he played “dress-up”everyday, pretending to be someone he wasn’t.  And no matter how much he wore, how much he tried to look like an Egyptian, he was still a Hebrew underneath and in his heart. 

He runs away from God, not realizing that is impossible and hides out where no one will know his true identity.  Or so he thinks.  Even his wife Zipporah calls him an Egyptian when she first meets him.  But though he may have fooled his wife for a time…….he never fooled God. 

If we are a believer then we need not to play “dress-Up” with the worlds wardrobe, trying to be someone we are not.  But to clothe ourselves with righteousness so that the world will know…..who we really are!

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

   Romans 13:14

Forgotten Cries

One day last week i was burdened by an old familiar feeling.  From a time in my life i don’t often look back too.  A time of great darkness and pain.  As years have gone by the pain and suffering are a mere distant memory.  But the scars….are there to remind me of God’s greatness and the blessing of just being His.

Earlier in the  week I stopped by the church to talk with the secretary about a mission trip.  As I looked into her face, it told me…..all was not well.  She had to cancel our meeting because her daughter had just miscarried…..again.

With my hand to my chest, my heart broke for this woman.  Suddenly the overwhelming pain came flooding back.  How I wish I could go to her and ease her pain…..but I knew there is no remedy, no words, no tonic that can take the pain away….The loss, the empty arms can only be filled by Christ and Him alone. 

The next day as I strolled along our country road lined with big oak trees I took in the Spring freshness.  The breeze on my face was perfect.  It was green all around.  The trees had started their resilient coming out. 

Suddenly I stopped.  At my feet was a tiny leaf.  This leaf was perfectly formed, fresh and bright green.  I wondered why such a perfectly formed leaf was discarded, left alone on the side of the road.  It had no blemish or deformity, yet it was dropped by The Master.  Then the Lord showed me…..it is through the leaves that have fallen that give the tree it’s nutrients and makes it grow even stronger.

I thought of the lady who had lost her baby.  I remember being in her shoes, and now some 23 years later, though I still remember it vividly…..i don’t focus on the loss so much as how God grew my faith stronger than ever through it.  Though at the time, i could not comprehend how anything good could ever comes of such suffering….But God did and He was patient as He changed me through it.  It made the “rich soil” that my faith needed to follow after God no matter what storms come my way.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,

to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28