Last week was rough! It included leg pain that would not leave which is always chalked up to fibromyalgia, and with that a butter explosion mishap in the microwave. And to top it all off, the butter did not get cleaned immediately! Consequently, dried butter covered the top, sides, bottom, and door of my microwave. Still, when I finished cleaning, it looked like new again. Later in the day the Steel-Cut Oats container took a tumble; the result being oats cascaded down the pantry shelves making their landing and engulfing the floor of the pantry finding all the cracks and crevices. But, once again, a cleanup task that took time, yet was completed. The following day was a bummer as I dipped my hand into my make-up bag that lives inside my purse and felt inundated with a liquid substance. This had not been an explosion but a leakage, as I noticed the lid of my foundation bottle loose and caked with the liquid which now flooded my bag. And I kid you not, hardly 2 minutes later a song begins playing over the radio that prompts such a deep heart pain I quickly cleaned a finger from the wet foundation to punch the radio off. My nephew’s favorite song. My nephew, who died last July (2022)! A song I cannot bear to hear!

Sometimes I feel like a complete mess! Sometimes I feel like I have made my life a complete mess. And maybe I will always feel a bit messed up this side of heaven.  But I am so thankful for a Savior who takes my messes and turns them into something He can use. I cleaned up the butter splatter, the oat spill and the make-up disaster but my nephew is a whole other matter. We want everything to be easy and happen in a jiffy. Yet, most of life is not quick and certainly not easy. We may even lose our joy for a while. But Jesus comes into a life to clean up messes, and the finished product will always be Joy!

So live life for the finished product~

Our heavenly Father sent His Son to earth to rescue us, and then when His Son had to leave, He gave us a Helper, the Holy Spirit of God. And He directs and empowers clean-up missions for our good. Just know today, it might feel like a mess BUT God uses it for a purpose!

Live for the finished result!

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

John 14:16-17, NLT

You have given me greater joy!

Psalm 4:7a

What messes have you running for help?