“…But you know Him, for He abides with you and shall be in you.” John 14:17bView from my new apartments lanai - looking North up the Silicon Valley
I was standing in a large kitchen, old-fashioned - straight out of the 1920’s. The countertops looked wooden and the cupboards were painted mint-green, had silver toned handle pulls and scalloped edging. The floor was black and white checked tile and the appliances were pristine white with black accent. To my right was a little two chair wooden table under a widow. It was covered in a blue checked cloth - a perky bouquet of field flowers graced its center.
To my right was the huge stove / oven range. It had at least six burners – and four of them were in use; there were identical medium sized clear glass pots on the stove. I looked closer at the saucepans and one had a frog in it! It was happily swimming around and around in the water.
As I took in the scene, I realized the burners were lit and the water was heating up! The frog swam slower and slower and then turned belly up – he was dead. The water reached boiling and the burners switched off.
A hard noodle, egg, and a tea bag were on the counter and added one to a pot. The noodle became soft and wavy in the water; the egg’s insides solidified and became gelatinous vs. fluid; and the tea bag – well, it made the water dark and emitted a sweet fragrance.
I woke up; the picture still vivid in my mind. Ok God, what the heck does that mean?!
I felt he told me the following – when people are exposed to heated / stressful / overwhelming situations, one of four reactions occur:
· The circumstances are unacknowledged or recognized and the individual is harmed (frog)
· The circumstances cause a change in the individual and they conform to their surroundings (noodle)
· The circumstances cause a change in the individual and they harden themselves in one way or another (egg)
· The circumstances cause a release of inner strength, wisdom, and revelation which affects the surroundings (tea bag)
Which of the items do you identify most with? The frog is oblivious to how things are changing, the noodle conforms, the egg hardens and seals itself off, but the tea bag affects the surrounding area – by changing it.
Which best represents you when you are in hot water? Do you ignore it? Do you refuse to confront the situation and conform to your surroundings? Do you seal yourself off in anger, bitterness, and ultimately unforgiveness and your heart hardens toward others? Or does hot water cause you to release a sweet fragrance that changes / causes those around you to see things differently. I wish I could say that I am always a tea bag...I try, but honestly, often I am an egg!
Another thing with tea bags…they are full of dead stuff, dried dead stuff that is only activated by extremely hot water. I think this is like Christian maturity. As we store up experiences and lessons learned, and as we become more Christ-like, we get more ‘dead stuff’ in us; our fleshly desires die and are changed for the better. So when we are put in hot water we react in a way that brings others closer to Christ.
Updates:
Living – The Johnsons moved last weekend to Saratoga and I will start packing next week. I will be in my new little place by the end of August!
Condo – I dropped the price $30K, am covering the pending special assessment, my renter moved out and I need to sell my Redmond condo! God covered my July and August mortgage payments through serendipitous and miraculous provision! Go God!
Work – Thank God for Gareth Seeto! He stepped in to fill the training lead role for this cycle – he is an invaluable asset. Thank you for praying him into being.
Travel – lots of stuff pending; I may have a trip as early as September 1, but then again I may not go again until November – I’ll keep you posted.
Requests:
Living – Let me know if you have bandwidth to help me pack and move. I haven’t set a specific day to move the “big stuff” – but boxes, etc. can go at any time! Any and all help is welcome!
Condo - To sell! And for the monthly mortgage payment…God is faithful!
Work – Training begins the 29th with our first full Saturday on August 1st. Pray that the trainees will be excited to learn, commit to the full cycle, and be able to get the time off to travel this fall.
Finances - If you would like to sow into what I am doing see the footer info at http://www.denaandrews.blogstpot.com/ or the category “Contribute” at http://www.repurposing.biz/ for more information.
