Slip Covers

I have this couch… It is one of those pieces of furniture that is so comfortable there is not another like it in the world.  I once bought a couch and loveseat that were comfy deep and perfect.  I let them go and have always regretted it, because I have never seen another.  These couches are not those, they are awesome, but not as good as the really old ones.  Any way – back from the squirrel gazing- I bought this couch and loveseat set on Craigslist.  We had an oddly shaped home that had been added on to before we got it.  It had been a cracker box and was now a rather large home (for us – and we did not have all four kids at that time, only my boys lived with us full time back then).  In this remodeling, two living room type areas were created, one was a traditional family room, the other was like a giant entry to the dining room that included the front door – the living room before the remodel.  This area always looked odd and seemed to be dead space.  So online I go.  I found this loveseat and couch pair for $100, not each, together!  We went to look at them, and they were awesome!  Yes, I still use that word.  They were great, super comfortable, the perfect shade of tan to complement our red walls (furniture for a red walled room can be tricky).   

Anyway, that was probably five years ago.  Bought second hand, in a home with lots of kids and pets… these couches are not holding up well.  They are a woven fabric.  They are full of holes that will NOT stay sewn.  I have stitched, sewn, and stapled until I was blue in the face with sore fingers!  We think, we should just get rid of them… but now, in another house that kind of has two living rooms (one with the TV, one without) and a large family – they will need replaced.  The love seat moved into the TV room to join our other furniture and is my youngest daughter’s “spot”.  The other is used on a constant basis.  Both are still amazingly comfortable (frankly I like them much better than our nice furniture).  So, next we try covering them with blankets – okay- but not very effective – they don’t stay on… at all.  THEN, if one of our treasured pets finds a spot with that luscious and lovely white stuffing popping out - - - well, I wake up to the Antarctic and wonder where the indoor blizzard came from!  These couches are done, we just can’t hold on any longer… but we do.  Walking through the store one day, I pass couch slipcovers.  And they don’t look quite as dorky as others I have seen.  I can understand how they fit right after looking at them… maybe, just maybe…  They worked!  Our couches are saved for awhile longer!

Now to the point!  Sorry for the long intro.  I was lounging happily on beautiful and comfy new/old couch, admiring the smooth lines of its back, amazed that all the lumpy holes were completely disguised.  The thought occurred to me, that some of us are like that.  Hypocrites.   Jesus said the Pharisees were like that.  We all have our couch-like moments.  When you are full of holes, rips, and tears, ready to be given up on, thrown away.  And then you slip on a smooth, soft, and pleasing cover – you go to church – you do good deeds in the community.  But all the while, underneath, is a sinner full of holes.  The holes and sins are not healed, just disguised, just smoothed over.  A couch cover doesn’t get you into heaven.  Jesus can fix those holes, he can repair them so they are strong.  If they tear open again he can fix them again.  He won’t give up on us.  He will continue to stitch and sew and staple, long after his fingers hurt!  Long after the pain – long after it kills him – which it did.  The holes in people cannot be covered, the must be repaired, they must be healed, and made new through Christ with repentance, and a willingness to be repaired. 

Sometimes our holes are sins, sometimes they are emotional hurts, sometimes they are past sins that haunt us, sometimes it is deeply rooted hypocrisy.  All these holes need fixed by Jesus.  All kinds of holes need Christ’s attention.  All kinds of holes lead to death, not heaven, not eternal life.  My couch will continue rotting away beneath that clean nice slip-cover.  There will be a time when those holes cannot be disguised anymore.  There will be a time when no one wants to be near the couch because it is no longer awesomely comfortable.  There will be a time when I will have to throw them out, cast them aside.  Do not let yourself be cast aside.  Let Jesus heal your rips and tears.  I ask Jesus to repair mine all the time.  I am asking Him now.  The bible does say that continually unrepentant hearts will be hardened.  We have to be willing to let Jesus heal us.  We have to be willing to let him take off the cover and heal our wounds, and forgive our sins.  No matter how perfect a cover we have, no matter how well it fits or if it is tailor made to perfection – we still have to take it off, admit and confess the holes and rips to Jesus, even the ones we don’t know are there – and we must let him repair them and make us new.

Romans 3:22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.  And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are."

2 Corinthians 5:10  For we must all stand before Christ to be judged.  We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

2 Corinthians  5: part 20,21  …”Come back to God!”  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

2 Corinthians 7:1  Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit.  And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

Here I am Lord! Send me!

Here I am Lord! Send me!  This was my prayer, a prayer that changed my life, and the lives of a man and four children.  Sorry, but the verses I included today I did not type out, they are for you to discover as part of the story.  I cried the whole time I was writing this.  It is a true tale, very close to my heart.

Several years ago, I was sitting in church listening to a sermon about following God’s will.  About being willing to submit yourself to his will, being willing to listen to his urgings and follow.  The pastor talked about praying ‘send me’.  I did.  It was a very moving sermon, I did pray ‘send me’; I wanted (want) to live in God’s will and to be his tool.

 A few days later, during prayer, the thought popped into my head about joining e-Harmony (an online matching service – to help you find someone worth being in a relationship with).  I thought this was an odd consideration, I prayed, it still seemed like a good idea.  I opened my bible at random to see if I would get a verse of guidance – the verse I randomly landed on (the beginning of a paragraph that included verses 9 – 12) was Ecclesiastes 4:9.  Go read that paragraph starting with verse 9, and see what it would say to a person who had eHarmony pop into her head during prayer.  –Okay, I hear you.-  I looked into it, it was expensive.  I would need $113.  I was a single mom of two sweet boys, I was a first year teacher, I was poor!  I considered a bag of cookies a luxury item.  I did not spend money that wasn’t necessary.  So I prayed.  I basically said that I was willing, I said that it seems like God wanted me to join eHarmony, but I did not have the money.  I asked God that if it was truly his will that I do this, that He make it possible.  That He help me see how to afford it.  The next day, I repeat – THE NEXT DAY… I received a check in the mail for $115.  Loud and clear!  I remembered my prayer to “send me”, wondered if there was a connection – and joined.  TWO WEEKS later I went on a date with a man who had lived within an hour of me my entire life and had never met until eHarmony.  It was a man on edge.  A man who was so close to seeking revenge.  A man who ached watching his daughters grow up in a situation he didn’t think was okay.  A man angry with the ‘system’ and about to break, a man who had given up on God, a lost man… We met on a Wednesday, he joked that he would get struck by lightning if he entered a church – I showed him Matthew 18:9 – 13 – and assured him that God would be happier that he was there, than he was that I was there – we went to church on Sunday.  He came to church with me every Sunday.  When his daughters visited, they came to church with us as well.  We were married 6 months later (with much prayer).  That was 7 years ago. 

Two or three years after we were married his younger daughter came to live with us (we still paid the child support, but she resided at our home).  Two years ago we started the process to seek permanent custody of her; his older daughter said she wanted to come too.  We got custody of both girls.  Now we are a family of 6 with God firmly in the center of our lives.  We have family bible studies and prayer, we openly discuss what we see around us and how it compares to God’s will…  All our kids have changed so much.  My husband has changed so much.  His faith is firmly attached.  He saw the power of prayer when we met.  He knows the power of prayer first hand.  We listened to his younger daughters daily petitions for her sister to ‘come live with us’ for about 3 years, then it happened.  When Kevin and I were planning our wedding, his oldest daughter was 7.  She kept talking about ‘the baby’ when we finally sat her down and asked about this baby – she replied “you’re getting married, you must be having a baby, people have a baby then they get married; that’s how it works”.  She doesn’t believe that anymore.  She trusts God, they all do.

God’s will is perfect, we do not know where or to whom it will lead.

I do not want to seem self-centered, un-humble, or conceited.  I do not claim to be perfect or have all the answers.  Our blended family is full of trials and is not the Brady Bunch.  I did make mistakes, still do, and am constantly repenting.  I repent of things from my past that are clear to me now that I should have made different decisions.  I am not a savior – Jesus is.  But I do know that my husband calls me his ‘angel’, part because my name is Angela – but mostly because he says God sent me to save him…  All because of one prayer – “I am here Lord, send me.”

Why even think about it? God will tell you what to write.

I was lying on the floor after my daily stretching thinking, ‘what should I write about it today?’  I do this a lot before I sit down to type.  But I don’t know why.  As I was mulling over possible topics or stories or bible verses and thinking, ‘maybe… or maybe…’ the thought came to me – (more than once I might add) 'why even spend time worrying about it?  God always tells you what to write!'.   And it is true, He does.   Before I start writing every day, I pray.  I pray and ask God to be with me, to let the message he wants to convey to myself or any reader come out.  I ask Him to guide me through the process to allow the truths of His word to come through what I type.  I also ask point blank – what should I write today?  Today as I lay on the floor in my contemplations and I thought about God telling me what to write about I wondered if that itself would be my topic.  When I went to God in prayer I had forgotten all about that possible topic.  When I got around to asking him about my topic for today, that phrase popped into my head again, along with its relevance to daily life.  Along with a verse that relates: “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” Proverbs 20:24 (NLT)

The bible is full of promises that if you trust God with your life, He will care for you.  My personal translation of that verse says “God’s driving, so just take a nap.”  NOT LITTERALLY.  You know what I mean, we don’t need to worry, we just need God.  Proverbs 16:1 “We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives us the right answer.”  Similar to what I wrote about the other day – letting go of the dead mouse that is rotting away your focus on God and your faith – that was about past events --- the same holds true for the future too!  God knows the numbers of hairs on our heads, he sees all we do, and He knows what is best for us.  IF we trust Him, He will show us the way to go; He will tell us what to do.  Just like a small child and his parents – small children are full of trust.  We expect our kids to cross the street when we say to, go to the Dr. when we say to, follow safety rules, jump into our arms from high places… God expects the same from us (DO NOT JUMP OFF OF A HIGH PLACE! He also expects us to use the brain He gave us AND not to test him, Matthew 4:7 “Jesus responded ‘ The scriptures also say ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”).  God wants us to trust him with our lives.  He will direct our path into His will if we let Him.  Imagine what your life would be if you had let God lead you all of your life - - I can’t - - it would be too good to imagine.  

Jeremiah 32:27  I am the LORD, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for me?

Isaiah 40:31  But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.

Psalm 37:5 Commit everything you do to the Lord.  Trust him and he will help you.

Hebrews 11:1  Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we can not see.

Mathew 17:20 “You don’t have enough faith” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain ‘move from here to there’ and it would move.  Nothing would be impossible”

Ephesians 5:17  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

Philippians 4:6-7  Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 5:8 Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me.  Make your way plain for me to follow.

Ephesians 1:19  I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe in him.

JUST TRUST