“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

What’s Inside Us

Recently I wrote in one of the prayer updates about there being no shortcuts to things God is teaching us. Someone responded on the Facebook prayer page that for some people God seems to use a “pressure cooker” and for others He uses a “crockpot.” I liked that description.

The purpose is the same—He wants our hearts to become tender. There may be intense, short trials with the pressure cooker, or slow, steady ones with the crock pot. God knows what is best for each of us, and which will produce the best fruit in our lives.

As I look back over the last three years, I think I’ve experienced some of both. There have been short, very intense trials, and there have been been a lot of slow, steady ones. I’ve been learning through all of them. And, even more importantly, God’s grace, strength, help, and sufficiency have been with me in all of them. He has never left me for even a moment. He has held my hand, encouraged my heart, and spoken wisdom into each situation. He has been so faithful.

I’ve been reading a novel for relaxation and a phrase in the book jumped off the page to me: “Tragedy doesn’t necessarily change us. It just brings out more of who we are—or were—all along.” I’m asking the Lord to help my heart be filled with Him, so that He is what comes out.

“Father, I’m so very thankful that You are with us in the storm! You are with us in the pressure cooker and the crockpot. You are with us in every intense moment. What a wonderful, unfailing God You are.”