Offer It Up (Lay It All Down)

In my life, I have experienced times of great joy and peace. However, there have also been times of great pain, suffering, and chaos. One of those times occurred during the recovery period after my second surgery, I found myself in the greatest physical pain of my life. It was excruciating. I was lying in the bed, lights out, and in tears. I didn’t want to hear a sound. All I could hear was the rhythm of the tachycardia in my chest which was causing me to have shortness of breath. In my moment of suffering, I was inclined to reach out to the Lord. My focus was solely on asking Him to touch my body, regulate my heart rate, and take the pain away. Although it was a tough time, it was also a sweet, blessed time. I felt the healing presence of the Lord in a mighty way. 

 Although I spoke no words, couldn’t walk, and could barely lift my hands, I was inclined to worship from the position I was in. I felt like the woman with the alabaster box. Cece Winans beautifully sang,” Although she spoke no words, everything she said was heard. As she poured her love for the Master, from her box of alabaster”. My friends, this is what God wants us to do. In the heat of the battle, we can worship. When we don’t have the words or even the desire to speak to God, we can posture our hearts to communicate with Him. I have been there. There have been times in my life where I was so broken and weak that I didn’t have the strength to call for help. I’ve also been so angry that I could not even muster up words to speak. In those moments, I felt the Spirit of the Lord intercede on my behalf. Those are what I refer to as Romans 8:26-27 moments when, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through”.

In such times, we need to offer up what we have… our tears, brokenness, physical pain, anger, disappointments, weariness, and even our SIN. We can offer it up to the one who can take it and give us beauty for our ashes. He can take anything that burdens us or causes pain and turn it into something beautiful. He is powerful enough to take ashes from what the heat of life has consumed, use it as fertilizer, to nourish, and make our future fruitful and plenteous. If He can raise the dead, surely He can create a new life in and for us. 

Isaiah 61:3 says He can “grant those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord”. Why? So, He may be glorified. 

What is your offering? What are you willing to lay before the Lord? It may be all you have or can gather. No amount is too great or too small. Lay it all down. I promise you will not leave His presence empty or incomplete.  His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Isaiah 58:11

And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.