Carrot, Egg or Coffee Beans.....Which Are You?

I found the following excerpt in a book that I am reading. After reading it, I could do nothing but think. Christians go through so much because Satan is constantly trying to trick us, lie to us and pull us away from the Lord. He puts stumbling blocks in our way, not just any kind you understand because he is a master and when we face adversity, he watches us closely to see what gets us down and how we deal with it. When he discovers our weaknesses; he’s got us! So in all of his craftiness, he begins a relentless pursuit of trying to counteract our pain with false hope and short-lived joy until he has us hooked in his web of lies and deceit. Yes, Satan will tempt us with security in things or people that we desire in this life. But it is only short-lived, it is a cyclical whirlwind and when the dust stops blowing, you are back where you started at. HERE IS THE STORY OF THE CARROT, EGG AND COFFEE BEANS……….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling.

 

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.

 

She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

 

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

 

She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft and mushy. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardened egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee.

 

The daughter smiled as she tasted its deep flavor and inhaled its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What's the point, mother?"

 

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water - but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin, outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

 

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.

 

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

 

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong? But with pain and adversity, do I wilt and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit but, after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water - the very circumstance that brings the adversity, the pain, the hardship – into something quite wonderful. When the water gets hot, it releases its fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better, and change the situation around you for the better.

 

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity?

 

Are you the carrot, egg or coffee bean? Somehow, wake up and smell the coffee takes on a whole new meaning.

                   -Author Unknown

 As we go through adversity, and as Christians we will, even more so as Christian women. We will be tried, tested, tempted, pulled, pushed, pried, laughed at, talked about, snubbed and judged. How will these trials and tribulations change us? Will we retreat into ourselves, becoming cold, distant and uncaring? Will we allow the pain to defeat us; drag us down, push aside or send us running from the Lord to the world? Or, will we be conquerors! (Romans 8:35-37)(Ephesians 6:10-12)

 

 

Sandbox Rock

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox.  He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.  The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very huge.)

When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn't roll it up and over the little wall. Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, shoved -- but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally he burst into tears of frustration.

All this time the boy's father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's father. Gently but firmly he said, "Son, why didn't you use all the strength that you had available?"

Defeated, the boy sobbed back, "But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!"

"No, son," corrected the father kindly. "You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me."

With that the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.

Do you have "rocks" in your life that need to be removed? Are you discovering that you don't have what it takes to lift them? There is One who is always available to us and willing to give us the strength we need. When the apostle Paul faced times of a broken spirit and sapped strength, he proclaimed to the Corinthian church, "My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, then my power is made perfect in you" (2 Corinthians 12:9b NCV). When we are broken in spirit and our strength is spent, we can turn to our Savior Jesus.

What Do You Have In That Bag? Part Three

Bag of Fear

“…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…”. These are some awesome, thought-provoking words that were spoken by President Franklin Roosevelt on March 3, 1933.

            There is an enemy that lurks within us …that enemy is fear.

            Since September 11, 2001, we have become a nation of fear. We live with the constant threat of terrorism, global warming, nuclear disaster, and horrific crimes being carried out on the home front. We, as President Roosevelt said, fear, fear itself. When things are going well, we are well. However, when the enemy has us in his grasp and we are too afraid, or don’t know how to break lose; we lose sight of God’s promises. Remember what Joshua said to the children of Israel when they were getting ready to cross over into the Promised Land…”Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) Oh how wonderful it would be if we could just take solace in those words! However, that human part of us can’t see beyond today. We just cannot grasp the brevity of any situation.

            When fear takes hold of us, we become virtually paralyzed; we cannot move forward or backward. We are stuck in a place where we don’t want to be, but feel powerless to do anything to change. The past holds us captive and the future terrifies us! We all have “issues”, but how we handle them has a great impact on how those “issues” affect our lives. Being in an abusive marriage greatly increased my proclivity for fear. I feared getting out of bed each day because I feared what the day would bring and how I would be to able cope. I feared nightfall because I knew that I had to stay awake until my husband came home from work. I thought about what John said in 1 John 4:18-19 and I knew that something was terribly wrong with that picture. The love of the Lord and each other should have negated any fears that I was experiencing, and since that was not the case, where was the love in the relationship? I was a Christian and God did not give me a spirit of fear, but one that would help me to overcome those that wished to do me harm as found in 2 Timothy 2:7

            After so many years, I asked myself: how do I overcome the fear? How do I regain control enough to rely on the Lord? There were so many examples in the scriptures that I could learn from. Even from the beginning, the Lord gave us hope against fear, as we can see in Genesis 15:1; he told Abraham to not be afraid “…I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward,” and He is! In Isaiah 43:5, God told his people to “fear not…” With assurance, David lets us know that “the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1); to combat fear, we must trust, and that trust should only be put in the Lord! “In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear; what can flesh do to me?” (Psalm 56:4); we must remember that trust works along side hope. We have to hope in the Lord and know that no one can do anything against us, whether real or imagined. “…The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6) When you trust in a person, you put all your confidence in that person. You feel safe when that person is around you, as if you are a part of their space; and you have a calm contentment surrounding you. Those are the very same experiences you should have in the Lord; for only the Lord will be there forever! Trusting in God casts out all fears. (Mark 4:38-40) You can be in the midst of a raging storm, but if you trust in the Lord you will have no fear because you know that He will bring you through it. Consider your life a series of raging storms; as each one abates you thank the Lord for bringing you through it, knowing that another one is enviably on the way and the Lord will bring you through that one as well.

What Do You Have In That Bag? Part Two

Bag of Loneliness

            It is said that the most common illness of the soul is loneliness. Whether rich, poor, single, married, teenage, mid-lifer, or senior citizen, we have or will experience the affliction of loneliness. It settles upon us like a shroud, intensifying in its duration much like the permeating heat from a blazing summer sun or the freezing arctic blast of winter’s fierce iciness.  It burns into our minds and freezes our hearts. No one is immune to the devastation it can wreak in our lives.

            We don’t have to be in an empty room or faced with solitude to be lonely. Loneliness can occur in a crowded room, in the midst of a swarm of family and friends. Loneliness is a feeling of utter “alone-ness”.

            For me, loneliness was looking around and feeling like there was nothing for me. In this huge expanse of universe, the only existence for me was me. There was no one upon whom I could lean on – lean into, and rely upon to help me conquer my doubts and fears. When I walked in the sunlight, I cast no shadow; when I looked into the mirror, there was no reflection. My world was black and white; there was no color to help define my joy for there wasn’t any. I felt forsaken by God, by family, by self.

            There were times in my life when I was so lonely until I would sit or lay and cry for hours. I’d pray and pray, and ask God how long I would have to endure such loneliness. I would reflect upon the scriptures and remember that He said He would supply all of my needs, yet here I was, so very lonely. Was companionship not a need? Where was God, and why had He abandoned me yet again? How could He go back on His promises to me? Didn’t He know what I was going through? Of course He did! Jesus knew what I was going through. I know he had his share of loneliness; after all, He became a man and shared in our emotions on our level. Hebrews 2:14 confirms, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Christ was both human divine, He is well aware of our needs. His “humanness” allows him to identify with us as found in Philippians 2:5-8.

            David shares so much with us to remind us that God is always with us, no matter what we are going through, including the overwhelming pain of loneliness. Sometimes loneliness is the result of a broken heart (Psalm 34:17-19) and in that God is there for us; we but only need to call out to Him. We are told in Isaiah 41:10 that the Lord is with us, and He will strengthen us! Again in Matthew 28:20, Jesus himself lets us know that He will be with us forever. Also see Hebrews 3:5. James tells us to “draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8) 

            In times when you feel alone, draw near to God and meditate on His word. If we focus more on drawing near to God and seeking His kingdom, He will supply all our needs as found in Matthew 6:33. If we spend that time focusing on God, we will have very little time to focus on our state of being.