So this blog begins with the Monday I passed the spare refrigerator in our garage and noticed water on the cement floor. Instantly the thought came into my mind to check the freezer where I had our meats for the month stored. My suspicions were correct. All the meats were thawing out! So I make several trips back and forth between the garage and the kitchen to transfer the meat to the kitchen refrigerator, thankful that the Lord had prompted me to check that refrigerator.
The next item on the surprise “to do” list was to remove as much as I could from the kitchen refrigerator freezer to make room for all these meats that would have to be cooked. So the rest of my day was spent cooking the meats in the old-fashioned pressure cooker, the new “techy” pressure cooker, the crock pot, oven, and on the stove top. Then all the meats had to cool and be put in containers for storage. Needless to say it was a very busy day that ended with some of the meats stored in the refrigerator and some in the freezer.
When Thursday mid-afternoon arrived Butch asked me what we would be having for dinner and I replied that I was thinking about making chicken and rice stew. He thought that sounded good, so I asked him if he would get that chicken for me. I instructed him to look for a plastic container with the red lid in the garage refrigerator (that was now working). After a few minutes he returned to the kitchen and said that chicken wasn’t in that refrigerator. I was surprised but being well aware of my senior moments said I would check the kitchen refrigerator. No chicken there either! So Butch goes out and checks the second spare refrigerator in the garage. No chicken! We also have an upright freezer in the basement with our frozen garden vegetables stored in it. That was the next attempt to locate that missing chicken. All the while I was reiterating that the chicken was in a plastic container with a red lid. By this time we were looking in the kitchen cabinets, in the dishwasher, in the pantry. It was getting hysterical! Butch and I were laughing at the whole scenario! It resembled a “Three Stooges” episode! Suddenly, as I was sitting on the sofa wondering where else we could look for that chicken I prayed out loud, “Well, Father, we have looked everywhere we can think of for that chicken and You know exactly where that chicken is. Would you please reveal its location to us? I thank You in advance for hearing my prayer and coming to our aid.” After a moment I got up from the sofa and went back out to the garage refrigerator, where our search had begun. I didn’t find that chicken in the plastic container with the red lid, but there was a plastic container with a blue lid on the shelf. So I lifted up the lid to see what might be in that container and, lo and behold, there was that chicken!!!
I have relayed this whole comedy of errors to you to parallel it with similar life situations. How often do we do our best to stay on top of everything and have everything in the proper container with the color-coded lid? And stored right where we know we can put our hands on it? We even do this with God….”Now God, I am putting You in this container and I will put Your container up until I need You.” And along comes the day we need to find that container! We need to find God! We begin to search and try to think where we found Him last time we needed Him. Sometimes we get desperate and angry because He is not where we think He should be. We are not calling out to Him; we are just blaming Him for not meeting our expectations. It is so easy for us to forget that we are the container that Jesus chose to put Himself into when we accepted Him as our Savior. And He never hides from us. He always knows where we are, even when we don’t. He is always with us and desires to help us with all those life containers we use to try and be in control. If we would just live out of the truth that we need and have access to Him 24/7. Just as I prayed to Him about finding the chicken, He is ready to hear our every prayer about anything we are willing to bring to Him. If you believe that God our Father just cares about the big stuff, you don’t know Him very well. You might want to start bringing all the little stuff to Him and there might be a decrease in your big stuff!
By the way, that chicken stew sure tasted good that night at dinner.
Now here are some supportive scriptures relating to my blog:
Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:1-3
Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
John 15:4
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Galatians 2:20
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Romans 8:9-10
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1
By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
1 John 4:13
"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
*** On a more serious note, if you could use some help with all your “life containers” we will be most honored to walk with you through our Biblical counseling journey that will help you understand how you can move from trusting yourself with all those “life containers” to trusting Christ, Who is your life, for your life. Contact us and we will be glad to provide details.