Tag: burn

Wasp Stingers & Convictions of the Holy Spirit

On Friday, just as I was getting ready to leave work, I felt a pin-prick stab in my stomach followed by an intense burning sensation.  I moaned ‘nooooooo’ in despair, as I watched a wasp fly away from my mid-section.  The last time I was stung by a wasp it took over a year before it stopped flaring up bright red and alternating between burning and itching. 

Earlier in the week at Bible Study, the teacher gave us a scripture with a nugget of truth that left me feeling the sting and burn of conviction. In that moment, I knew I wasn’t being prayerful, respectful, or loving in one area of my life.  Like the wasp sting, it hasn’t gone away after several days.  

The Bible is very clear that the feeling of conviction is from the Holy Spirit; the third part of the trinity. In my experience, these nudges from the Holy Spirit are in areas that the Lord finds displeasing.  Normally, they are behaviors that are sinful, that need repentance, and that are forgiven if we truly change our direction.  

John 16:8 (NASB) says, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness and judgement.” 

You see, the key to conviction is that there will be judgement associated with it.  Therefore, we can’t ignore it…we have to actually do something to change the behavior.  If we fail to change behavior as a result of conviction, or we ignore that pinprick on our conscious, then we stay in a sinful spiral.  And no good comes from that. 

Josh McDowell wrote, “Having convictions can be defined as being so thoroughly convinced that Christ and His Word are both objectively true and relationally meaningful that you act on your beliefs regardless of the consequences.”

Just like the wasp sting, with its immediate pinch and days of itchy burning, the moments during and after a conviction spurred by the Holy Spirit, should also invoke feelings of a sting and continuous burn…until the behavior has been repented and changed.  

This week I’m praying that the ladies of the porch will listen to the Holy Spirit when you feel that moment of conviction…and that the wasps stay away from you!

~Emily

Burn The Shirt

There is a huge burned hole in my shirt!

There is a huge burned hole-size piece of blue fabric adhered to my iron!

There I was.  Standing in the dining room in my cute pants, with my cute necklace and matching earrings, with my cute shoes…and a bra, while ironing my shirt. And then.  I literally burned a hole in my shirt with the iron.

That wasn’t even the worst of the morning, but rather the culmination of it.  You see, I had been woken up an hour before my alarm with an elbow to the jaw from the wild sleeper I happened to marry.  I got out of bed rubbing my jaw to promptly step in cat puke.  I dropped my toothbrush on the floor by the toilet (thank you Jesus that it wasn’t INTO the toilet). I spilled my coffee across the counter trying to avoid stepping on the Legos that my cats thought were new kitty toys.  Then I burned my shirt.

That’s a lot of stuff in one morning that could make for the foundation of a crummy day!  Our crummy days are full of circumstances…but they are full of choices too.

As I stood in my bra and pants in the dining room, holding a ruined iron and looking at a ruined shirt, I thought “this is my chance to realign my attitude towards today.”  I brought to mind Psalm 121, which I’m in the process of memorizing for a women’s small group that I’m currently co-leading.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

~ Psalm 121 (NIV)

My help comes from the Lord.  He alone will get me through those crummy mornings when I have a choice to acknowledge that circumstances sometimes are “blah,” but those “blah” moments don’t have to dictate the day.

He will not let my foot slip.  He will watch over me.  He will keep me from harm.

He alone will protect me from things that are truly detrimental to my soul.  His gift of salvation through the death of His Son, Jesus,  has already proven He protects me through all things.

The reality is that cat puke, toothbrushes & Legos on the floor, spilled coffee or even a burned hole in a shirt is truly a minor thing when it comes to the help the Lord provides to us.

I pray your crummy-shirt-burning mornings can be turned into thanksgiving to the Lord!

~Emily

Burn the shirt