stripped.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines stripped as:

 

a : to remove clothing, covering, or surface matter from  

b : to deprive of possessions  

c : to divest of honors, privileges, or functions

When I truly began to walk with the Lord 4 1/2 years ago, I was stripped.

I remember my mother telling me over the phone, 

"Baby, get down on your knees and pray.  He is the only One Who can help you."

I hung up the phone and got on my knees.

Burning tears streaming down my face.

I cried out to the Lord.

Ever since that day, the Lord has been wooing me to Himself.

I felt stripped.

My heart was changing.

I didn't quite understand what was going on.

But, now I see.

I had to be brought to my knees.

I had to know that He was the Only way.

Not my way.

I pretty much did anything to avoid suffering.  

Most of the time I would just stick these hurts in a box and put them on a shelf.

But, you see these boxes filled with broken pieces of my heart,

were falling down.

I was drowning in the sorrows of all my suffering.

It was only in the waves,

struggling to breath

is where I found

Him.

I couldn't manipulate my way out of the pain.

I was stripped.

To the core of my soul.

In His grace and His mercy,

He stripped me of my coverings and the surface matters,

to get to my heart.

To see my sin.

My wretched, wretched heart.

And change it from the inside out.

Ever since that day and until the day I meet Him face to face,

He chips a little more off that He doesn't want to be there.

But, every time I am stripped,

He restores.

He gives me hope.

He fills me with His Truth.

And from the stripping

my love for Him grows.

And grows.

And grows.

He picks me up when I fall.

He is tender.

He is full of compassion.

He wants what is best for me.

He loves me more than I can imagine.

And I trust Him.

701.  my brother in law, Davis, who is about to deploy to Afghanistan.  Two weeks after the birth of his first child.

702.  my sister, Susan, who is about to have her first baby and her husband leave for war.

703.  for the sacrifice others give for our freedom.

704.  that Jesus was the Sacrifice.  so we could have life.  freedom in Him.

705.  that I am a new creation.  the old is being stripped off.  layer.  by layer.

706.  and the new is growing toward the Light.