Lesson at the Sink

I want to share a life experience with you. Something I learned while washing chicken at my kitchen sink.  This is not a Christmas devotion….but it is about thankfulness.  Something we all think about during the holiday season that stretches from Thanksgiving to the New Year.

About 18 years ago my husband was employed as a department supervisor in a poultry processing plant. A tough job at times….stinky job all the time….a job that got him up at 4 in the morning so he could drive an hour to be there on time. The job was actually a miracle in itself. Before this he had worked offshore as a driller on an offshore rig for 13+ years. Very tough work. But he loved it. Only thing….he had two beautiful little girls that he loved more. And he was missing some of the most important years of their lives. So we prayed.

On the day he was to leave for his offshore job we were all in the living room about to say our goodbyes. Absolutely miserable. All of us. Tears in our eyes, anguish on our face….daddy leaving again. Then a knock on the door and life changed that day. My brother-in-law dropped by and after he questioned the expression of our faces, said “well, let’s just pray about this”. I can’t remember the exact day, but in that very week, the Lord opened a door and Jeff walked in. Into the poultry plant.

Now I said this job was a miracle, and it was. But with it came other miracles. Jeff devoted time with the Lord on a daily basis. He was well liked by most. He witnessed at every opportunity. He was able to lead a young man to Jesus one day and the young man later became a preacher. But you have to know the enemy did not like this one bit. So he plotted and planned against him. He worked in every area of our lives. Finances were first. Many other tests followed.

In raising children it can be so very hard at times. I was a stay at home mom at the time and loved it. We were trying to keep it that way. I remember times of going to the grocery store with only $40 and sitting in the car outside with my two little ones and praying, “Lord, you see this $40. You know how many days I have to go before we have anything else?”

 “Yes, child, I created those days.”

I would remind Him that I had one in diapers and needed groceries and diapers for two weeks.
He simply said, “trust Me”.

So I would climb out of the car, take my little girls and the $40 and go into the little grocery store, adding up each item as I put it into the buggy. It would take me quite a while, because many times I would wind up putting some items back. Finally, at the checkout I stayed in my $40 budget. It was not this bad every single time, but it was more than I like to remember.

One miraculous perk of being employed at the poultry plant was the low cost of chicken (leg quarters). Now, I am a white meat lover. No dark meat for me please. But when all you can afford is legs…then suga….that’s what you get. One month, we didn’t have “extra” $ for other meat, so it was chicken every — single — night. Did you hear me? We had chicken in every fashion imaginable. I was “SICK” of chicken. So whiny me was standing at the kitchen sink crying (real tears), while I washed the nights menu. I told the Lord I was personally sick of it. I told the Lord I wanted something else! Do you want to know what He told me?

He said, “Angie, you sound just like the Children of Israel.” That was all. No promise of anything…just that.

I was rebuked immediately and felt shame wash over me. Here I was washing chicken when many families in the world had NOTHING! I was complaining over having meat for crying out loud! I cried more in my repentance. I finished preparing the chicken, put it in the oven (BBQ) and went to my chair and picked up my Bible. I flipped it open, was going to look for the Children of Israel, but when it fell open, this is what I read:

Matthew 6:25-34 “So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life-whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. “And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! “So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

If God has ever spoken to my heart….it was that day. He blew me away. I felt such shame at my complaining. I felt so ungrateful. I prayed and told Him over and over how sorry I was for feeling, acting and thinking as I had. Do you know what He did? He forgave me. 

The next night was “prayer meeting” (Wednesday night service).   I took our little girls to their Missionette classes and I went into the sanctuary and was bathed in God’s presence. When the service was over, a sweet lady that lived near the church came and asked me to follow her to her truck.   I did so, wondering why Sylvia wanted me to go to her truck.   We weren’t close friends–although we loved one another as sisters in the Lord.  She was probably about 20 or more years older, I was a young floundering mother with two little “fiesty” girls in tow.   She opened her truck door and with tears in her eyes, she handed me a brown grocery bag.   It was heavy.   It was cold. She told me that the Lord had told her to give this to me.   I opened the bag and could not believe what I saw.   Heaven.   I mean, hamburger meat!  Steak and roast.   Now I was the one crying.   My Lord saw my heart.   He cared.   So much that He touched the heart of a precious woman down the road and asked her to be a vessel.   A vessel that He could pour a blessing through.   Are we vessels? Can He use us?  Or, are there holes, cracks or chips in our lives.  Unfit.  Unusable.  Only when we get real with God and allow Him to remake us, remold us into a new vessel without spot or blemish can we then become the usable vessal He desires.  

A couple of months ago, the Lord spoke to Jeff’s heart to give something to someone he didn’t know.   Jeff sat there through the service as we all would and questioned —“are you sure this is You God?”…hmmm God would be the only One telling us to do something kind or good for someone else—am I right?

Following the altar service, Jeff delayed leaving, telling me he had to “tell someone” something.  I didn’ t think this too strange…he does like to visit.   So off we go home afterwards in search of lunch.   He never told me what he said or who he talked to that day. However, the next afternoon, leaning against the kitchen counter, with tears in his eyes, he told me of his struggle with obedience and the miracle God performed for Him that very next day. God is awesome.

Now, I don’t believe we should do things “to get things” in return.   But God always blesses His obedient children.   Always.   It may not be financial.   It may be in the form of a great check-up at the doctor!   It may be in favor with your boss.   It may be countless of other ways, but God always blesses His children. Obedience is what He wants. Read it for yourself—

1Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.

Dear Father in heaven, I love You with my whole being.  I am so thankful to be called one of Your children.  I pray that I would be found pleasing to You in every area of my life.  That I could be a vessel fit for the Master’s use.  That Your blessings could pour through my life into the life of another.  I am thankful for what You have done in my life.  I am thankful that You care…about everything in my life.  I am wholly Yours, in Jesus precious name~Amen.

Trusting Him,

Angie

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