The Freshness of the Spirit...

It's been a different kind of morning here at home so far as MaKayla and Mallary spent the night with my parents in order for MaKayla to help Dad cut wood yesterday afternoon and today. Last night Kyle and I journeyed back down to the hospital in which his dad is a patient so that we could visit and encourage his parents. It's been quiet around here but it's been good...It's been busy but I've been able to get some overdue projects closer to being completed...I don't get days like this very often! :o)

My Accountability Group gathered together last week to visit and share and as always it proved to be a time of sharing and sharpening. The point came up regarding "church" and why people stray away. We discussed how "needy" people can be and what happens when the "needs" they are longing to get fulfilled don't get met. We discussed how "church" is a place for people to come and find God, meet God, see God, feel God and be fulfilled in God. It seems as though when people look to "us" we always fall short, needs fail to get met, expectations go unfulfilled and people fall away. I learned very clearly prior to Kyle's surgeries a few years back that they only person God desired for me to look to/at in order to get my needs met and my expectations fulfilled was Him. He was the only one who could bring peace, rest, provision, strength, fulfillment... In receiving this word and direction, I personally found freedom and released "people" in whom I had expectations of from bondage. What a break-through that was for me!

In reading my devotion this morning the Lord reminded me the "freshness" that the Holy Spirit brings to our entire being when we receive Him and allow Him to work in us and through us. It's not just knowing who He is, it's inviting Him to work in our lives and accepting the work He wants to do! He takes the mundane tasks in life and equips us to look upon them as opportunities! He takes the dread of day-to-day living and turns them into gifts to be opened with each new morning that awakens us! He takes the situations and circumstances in life that seem more than we can bare and uses them as invitations to draw near to Him! He leads us, guides us, empowers us and fulfills us to do the work He has laid out before us! He gives living, meaning!

I find that as I spend time with the Lord at the break of each new day, I am filled to overflowing with everything I need in order to be productive for Him! I walk away from my time with Him refreshed, renewed, rejuvenated, rejoicing... It's sitting down with my closest friend and receiving all I need to be who I was created for!

May others see through my words, through my attitude, through my devotion, through my actions, through my character that JESUS is truly the sustainer of life! He is the one who meets our every need, fills our every void, strengthens our every weakness...

So today, no matter what task is before me (laundry, dishes, meals, school, encouraging one who is weary) may I allow the Holy Spirit to bring freshness to my heart, mind, soul and spirit in order to be a sweet smelling fragrance to my Lord!