sandpaper

I am sorry about the lack of blogging lately, the Internet has been down again. God continues to show himself to me daily. I have found a "routine," even though I don't think Africa knows what that word means.


A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with someone at BG. We were talking about how God was moving in my heart and the things He was showing me. This person said, "God is sure using some sandpaper on you!" Isn't that the truth!! Everyday I feel God is sanding off things of my heart that I don't need.

My dad does a lot of wood working, so I know the stages of sanding and finishing a project. First you start with the course sandpaper, because the things on the surface need to be removed fast, so you can see the beauty of the piece of wood. Then with each layer you use a finer piece of sandpaper, so you can see the true beauty in the piece of wood. Sometimes there are flaws in the wood that can't be taken away and you just have to work with them. But those flaws add a lot of character to the wood.

Sometimes in life God needs to use the coarse sandpaper to get rid of the junk on the top layer of your heart. It hurts, but when the sanding is done, you are pure. But God isn't finished yet. God knows all about sin. He knows how we all have secret sin in our lives, that maybe we don't even know about. He also knows that the course sandpaper won't take away those sins, so he changes to a finer piece to get rid of those sins. With each layer that is removed, God is returning His creation to the beautiful thing it was suppose to be, before the desires of our flesh came in to play. Sometimes in life, there are things that we can't change, but in those "flaws" God's grace comes in and they build character in our lives.

I am so glad to be in Africa right now!! God is showing me things about myself and getting rid of the things that I don't need to hang on to anymore. This process is draining, it hurts, but the FREEDOM that comes with it is so indescribable.

The other day I was praying that the things I am learning here will not leave me when I go back home. I also was praying that people in my life will accept the new me and love me the same through the sandpaper process, because I know it won't stop in Africa. God is removing things every day and He won't be finished until we reach Heaven. I was reading a book that described the character of Paul. When God worked in Saul and He became Paul, he changed a lot, but his core didn't change. He still was a passionate, strong leader, but he had a different purpose. Instead of killing Christians, he was fighting to proclaim the name of Christ.

God is changing the way I see things, because of what I am experiencing in Africa, He is changing me, but He is not changing my core, because He created that core. He is just asking me to take what He made and use it for good, rather than the prideful, jealous, and coveted things I was doing before.

I pray that everyone who reads this sees God working in my life. I pray that whoever reads this will take some time to TRULY ask God to show them what He wants to sandpaper out of their lives and allow the change to take place. I pray that everyone can have an encounter with the Holy God, in the same way I am right now.

But be careful, because the geniue encounter with Him requires some sanding.