overflow

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15:13

“For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34

When life presses in and the stress of what is staring me full in the face seems like more than I can handle, I want that ‘confident hope’ Paul spoke about.  I want to be defined by ‘joy and peace because I trust in Him’.  But it’s a hard road, learning to live in the overflow. 

    

Life squeezes us all.  And when we are squeezed, just like a ketchup bottle, what is inside us is certain to come out.  The discipline of daily walking with Jesus, time in the Word and in prayer is the only way to a heart that overflows with blessing when the circumstances of life do not.   The choice to continually cultivate a deep and loving relationship with God will keep us from ever living on empty.  It will spill over onto every relationship in our lives and sustain us when the difficult times come.

 

Let’s be honest.  Some days are just plain hard.  In fact, some weeks, months and whole years can be hard.  Today, you may find yourself in a season that has been defined more by struggle, heartache and grief than by joy or victory.  If so, let me say I am sorry that is true.  Sorrier still if you are going through it alone.

If you are having a great day, your heart is full and your praise is easy, well I hope that your smile is contagious and your words full of grace because I can almost guarantee that there is someone standing close by who is hurting right now.  After all, even on our best days we are all a bit broken.  And yet for the life of me, I can’t figure out why we spend so much time and energy trying to pretend otherwise. 

My sister-in-law recently introduced me to Kintsugi.  The Japanese call it the ‘art of precious scars’. The tradition behind this art form believes that dishes that have been broken are not to be hidden but to be displayed with pride.  The breaking is not an end, but simply part of the history.  In Kintsugi, broken pieces of glass are fused with gold, silver or platinum that makes the piece even more beautiful than it was before it was damaged, and even more valuable.  The beauty is in the scar.  It becomes part of the story, the very thing that makes a piece unique and special.

I have recently had the privilege of walking beside a friend in their hurt.  It was hard and particularly difficult because it was a hurt I could do nothing to fix.  But it was a gift and an honor nonetheless.  I have learned that as much as we may appreciate someone who rejoices with us in our times of celebration, it is nearly impossible to forget the impact of one who comes beside us at our worst and breathes courage into us through their presence.

God’s grace during my own times of ‘breaking’ have done more to strengthen my faith and my testimony than anything else.  I want to wear those marks well.  Early in the morning, even on the hardest days, the rock solid reality of God’s faithfulness in the past fuels my faith for the day I am in.  It allows me to live in the overflow.

 

The unchanging reality of who God is holds like an anchor when everything else seems uncertain. The truth in God’s word keeps us steady.  It reminds us that He is in control, and that there is nothing that we face that has not been purposed by our heavenly Father, who is good, loving, and kind.  God knows that the tough days are the ones that draw us closest.  He guides us not around the pain, but through it.  He allows the difficulties to transform us into the person He wants us to be.  It is the process of refining - a process that can make us more like Jesus, more responsive to the hurt around us and more authentic with our own precious scars.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1 Peter 1:6-7