cleansing

Getting Squeezed

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Now that I have returned to work at Chick Fil A, it was inevitable that I would become hooked on their newest product, the frosted lemonade…or as I call it YUMMMMM!!!  Seriously!  It is addictive to the maximum, and one reason that I love it is because it has no milkshake base- it’s just their vanilla softserve mixed with lemonade.  Oh. My. Word!  I finally managed to leave today without drinking one!

But this blog is not about how delicious it is.  It IS about the process that goes into making it.  Chick Fil A uses fresh lemons, not any powdered lemonade mix or such.  Today was my day to handle that process, and God spoke to my heart the whole time.  Those lemons are quite content in their little (heavy!!) box in the cooler, having a great time.  Then along comes an employee who drags them out, sprays them with water, washes all the dirt off and then…..gasp!……starts cutting them!  Those lemons never knew what was happening!  Before long, a lemon massacre has happened in the sink, and no lemon is spared.

The next step is even worse.  There is an electric juicer involved, wherein each lemon half is placed on a whirring knob, and then pressed down on.  And pressed is a polite word!  They are MASHED on the knob, and left on there until every last possible bit of juice is out of them.  The lemon seeds are cast aside by this machine, and scooped out later and thrown in the trash.  And then that lovely lemon juice is made into some of the most delicious, refreshing drinks.

Ok – so you know where I am going with this!  Born again believers are simply sinners who have been washed clean, and then they are ready for use.  But not the use most of us think of!  They are ready to be cut, and then squeezed, in order to be made into something delicious!  And along the way, the squeezing gets pretty intense, but that is in order to wring out every good thing, and to make sure all the seeds (sins) are gone! And like the lemons, there are times that the squeezing could stop – but then some of the good stuff would be sacrificed..the lemon wouldn’t be used to its fullest potential.

Now, I do not like the “squeezing” I receive sometimes – hardship, illness, frustration, financial distress.  But without it, I will never be the refreshing, beautiful, and helpful “lemonade” in God’s Kingdom!  So here’s my prayer for today – the next time I feel “squeezed”, I will remember what God can make of it, and I will try to endure till the end of the process!

A Daily Scrub

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I love bath and body products – love, love love them!  And I am always finding one that works, and then going to the store a month or so later, and then finding out that of course it was being discontinued and would never be mine again.  If you are a woman, you KNOW what I mean!

I ran out of my face cleanser last week, that I loved, and of course today when I went to buy it again…..not there.  Not anywhere.  So I looked and pondered and considered this afternoon, mulling over all the possiblities, and chose a scrub this time by the same company.

I evidently did not read the entire label, because when I used it tonight, the first sensation was scrub….and the second was my face being on fire!!  As soon as I could get my face rinsed and my eyes focused, I looked at the label and saw these two words:  energizing (no joke!) and “pore-reducing” (loss of skin cells!)  Oh yeah, I was definitely impressed that I got my money’s worth.  And then I saw another word – peppermint – on the label – there’s the fire!  I don’t know if you have intentionally poured peppermint on any part of your skin lately, but it will ENERGIZE you – to get it off as soon as possibile!

However, now that the fire is out, I can feel a difference in my skin.  It does feel smoother, and it does feel much cleaner.  And I dare any dead skin cells to still be there.

Which leads me to this thought – that’s just the way I feel after reading God’s Word.  The Word of God is designed to “scrub” my heart, soul, mind and emotions.  It is designed to close those “pores” – the inroads that sin may have begun to make.  And it definitely energizes me!  It makes me cleaner – and more usable.  It makes my path smoother, because I have been directed by God for that day’s journey and I am less likely to get “dirty” with sin. And it removes all those dead “skin cells” – those unpleasing thoughts, attitudes, and words that may be lurking in my soul.

So – while I will never recommend peppermint for the skin, I will always recommend the Word to anyone whose life or journey needs energizing – its the best thing around!  To Him be the glory!