Hand Me Ups.

There’s something that I recently faced that used to make me MAD. So so mad. 

But anger, as a wise friend once told me, is actually just a symptom of a deeper problem. 

Someone can be angry but what they really feel is … misunderstood, manipulated, fear of rejection, many things… and in this case? Abandoned. Rejected. Unwanted. 

But those aren’t anywhere near the truth. 

As I’ve discovered the truth of who I am and who God is, It’s set me free.  (you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free)I am not any of the things listed above. 

What you perceive isn’t always reality. 

There’s always a choice to make - what to believe. Life or death. Which tree to eat from. What the world offers or what God offers. 

So the event that used to start a cycle of depression, self-doubt, rejection, and anger now provides me with relief, and even peace! So weird. But super cool. 
But. In order for me to get there, I had to “Hand Me Up” a few things. 

Let me explain what I mean...

Most everyone is familiar with or even a recipient of hand-me-downs. I love my mom's sweatshirt I nabbed one time!

I was recently gifted with some glass food storage containers. I was able to and almost HAD to find something to do with my worn (but still usable) plastic Tupperware to make room for my glass containers. I was able to give some to some friends who were excited to get them and make use of them (lambano!) 

Also, I was given some friend’s closet cleanout clothes but before I can hang my new clothes, I must go through my current ones to make room and hopefully find a good new home for them all. 

That’s what I mean by Hand Me Up … clearing out the old to make room for the new. 

With our mindsets, we must take inventory of what we are believing and how it’s serving us.
Is it producing life? Or draining us? 

John 15 says "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." {:2, NIV}

As we walk through the vineyard of our minds with the guidance and expertise of the keeper, he can show us what mindsets, relationships, and  motives  need to be pruned or cut off. He will only do this in love. It's who he is. There is no condemnation in Him.

But as we allow him to tend to our garden, we find what we "gave up" is NOTHING, compared to what it clears the way for!

Paul says it so perfectly in his letter to the church in Phillippia...  

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, (SOME VERSIONS EVEN SAY DUNG!!) 

...that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11if, by any means, I may attain[b] to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already attained,or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. {3:7-14, NKJV}

 And again to the church of Rome... "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." {8:18, NIV}

As Paul AGAIN tells the Church in Corinth, We are being transformed Glory to Glory. {2 Cor 3:18}. 

As we allow the Lord to tend to the vineyard of our lives (mindsets, relationships, habits, etc) we can expect some loving cutting away of parts that aren't giving life but taking it. And pruning for health. But we can ALSO  expect more fruit as we abide and mature. We can expect the space of the things we "give up" ( rubbish and dung, really...) to be filled with GOOD things. 

All good and perfect gifts come from the Father. But sometimes, he's just asking us to help him make a little room for the good He wants to add to us!