Welcome to my Thankful Thursday blog post! The LORD impressed on my heart to carve out a section on my blog to share what I am thankful for. I call this my Thankful Thursday blog posts. I will continue to share what I am thankful for each week, so be sure to come back to my blog and we can count our blessings together.
I wanted something sweet. I had a small savory meal but wasn't quite full and thought a sweet treat would be in order. I am battling a sinus congestion/head cold situation and so I opened the pantry in search of something light and pleasant to the taste. I saw the box of strawberry Pop-Tarts. I glanced over and saw no one had bothered to put the toaster up from using it last, so I placed the two pastries in the slots of the toaster and waited. It didn't take long for the heat of the toaster to soften the delicate rectangles and then it happened...
The pop of the toaster alerted me that it was time to remove these dear frosted goodies from the jaws of the toaster. The right slot released the Pop-Tart with ease. The left was not ready to let go. I looked inside and saw that the Pop-Tart had slipped outside the protective "clamps" of the toaster and it was stuck! I quickly unplugged the toaster and grabbed a fork to help me finagle the sugary, gooey, pastry loose. It was not budging. I tore part of the top. I shook the toaster, and urged the Pop-Tart to come out, cheering it out, "Come on!" It sunk further. What could I do?
I picked the toaster up in both hands, shook the toaster, held it upside down, and with the help of the fork tines, eased the pastry onto my paper towel. It looked terrible. Next to the perfect Pop-Tart it was torn, beaten up, and broken. I looked at the poor thing and all I could see was the strawberry gel tempting me to gobble it up. I did not care that my bedtime snack was not Pin-worthy. I did not mind that it was torn up and in pieces. That pastry was for me to sink my teeth into and enjoy. I savored it and then I thought about how much life is like that whole situation.
We get in our lane and we are busy doing our own thing. The heat of the trials of life are lighting a fire inside us and we can be sweeter than before we were pressed so hard. The metal clamps of the slot can tighten around us but it just secures us so we can fully take the heat and pressure without collapsing. Sometimes we are like the pastry on the right. We come out unscathed and even admired but some. Other times we are like the pastry on the left, we collapse and get broken, but we can still be used for a great purpose.
Lately I have felt like the pastry that slipped between the wall of the toaster and the center holding section. I feel like I have been poked and prodded and nudged. Sometimes I hear a friend or family member cheering me on. Sometimes I feel like my world is shaking or even upside down. Do you know what the good news is? When I finally slink out of the hot toaster slot of life, I am still valuable. I still have a purpose. I can still do what I was created to do and the heat maybe made me a little sweeter.
After suffering the loss of my father in 2013 I could have quit nursing school. He passed away during my Christmas break. I did not want to go back to nursing school. It was literally all that I could do with God's help to go back. I had several patients who were about my dad's age; those men had colon cancer just like my dad. As I held their hand to redirect them from pulling out N-G tubes, spoke softly as not to startle them waking from anesthesia, and offered a smile of hope they were not alone it felt like I was more compassionate than before losing Dad. It was bittersweet.
Sometimes life is great and we feel like we are on top of the world. Have you had some times this year where it just felt like you were riding the wave and everything looked great? I know God has given me some of those moments recently. This week has not felt like that. It felt more like the big wipe-out in front of a crowd of people, left me feeling disappointed and mangled like the Pop-Tart. But I know God looks down into my circumstances like I looked into that toaster. He sees the stuff on the inside of me that He put there and He works hard to get me out as best as I can. When I am bruised and broken, He shines His light inside me and reminds me that I can still burn bright for Him.
1 Peter 4:12-13 (12)Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: (13)But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Romans 8:35-39 (35)Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36)As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37)Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (38)For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39)Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That is great news! We shouldn't think it is strange when we go through problems or difficulties in life. If we end up like the Pop-Tart on the left, don't think it is something awful and dreadful that you will never bounce back from. You are a child of the Most High God! He is in your corner. He may have to get some creative devices to help you out of the space you get stuck in, but even if He has to move mountains to get you free He will do it! Nothing we go through, no setback, delay, or disaster is going to keep us from God's love. We are in the palm of His hand and He loves us. This Thursday I am thankful for strawberry Pop-Tarts, toasters, electricity, paper towels, forks, my Bible, and for the God who never gives up on His children! Because I am a hot mess most of the time!
I hope you will leave me a comment below and tell me what you are thankful for today! I am always grateful for the friends God sends to my blog each time I post!
Hugs,
Bridgett
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