Have you been over to Us Three Birds lately? If not, you should.
In Chelsea's latest post "What's Got You In Chains?" after being inspired by this passage:
Acts 16:25-34 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he a was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
Go check it out for yourself, there is lots of prayer goin on over there, don't deny yourself of carrying another's burden!
So then I had to ask myself...What are my chains? "What area of your life do you need to see God moving the most?"
Usually the first thing that comes up, even if you don't want to write it down is the one you know is true. So immediately, I thought of my bitter heart. My heart that tends to judge, tends to hate, tends to be the ugliest part of me. Being a SAHM doesn't help matters. I spend most of my day cleaning up after my toddler with the internal dialog that reflects that of the utmost lost sheep. It shames me. A few months ago I started working on this, started digging into the dirt, even though I was afraid of the worms and bugs that were about to surface.
My friends, not only did I dig to the bottom of that well, but I found the water!! It was gritty, earthy, and alkaline at first, but after I crawled out, let the water fill up this hole that had trapped me for a lifetime, and let the sediment drift to the bottom...It tasted delicious.
But this well is one that I'll be tending to for a while, so even though the hardest of the work has been done, I still have a little ways to go. While looking for a verse to put on my chalkboard this week, I came across this.
It was a very gentle reminder that my work was still unfinished.