Devotionals
I had gotten a new washing machine. No more trips to the Laundromat. I had waited literally years for this moment. The machine had many features including one called “soak cycle”. It was for those times when you had really dirty clothing, from an afternoon in the garden complete with mud and weeds. That cycle let those clothes soak with only a rare agitation. This went on for 20-30 minutes and then drained out all the dirt so you could place those items on a regular wash cycle. I was a gardener and this cycle was totally wonderful.
A good friend was going through some incredible struggles. I was trying to make things “all better”. Actually I was trying to fuss, flutter and fix. One day after a failed attempt to comfort and console I felt that still, small voice of my Lord Jesus telling me that He had my friend on “soak cycle” and I was coming along trying to push every button. God did not want those buttons pushed. He wanted my friend right where He, the Lord, had him. Soak Cycle.
What a good visual for me. I then took my hands off, backed off and quit trying to make things “better”.
Soak Cycle was probably an answer to prayer as my friend didn’t know my Jesus. Basically, I had prayed for the Lord’s intervention in that life and then was trying to “fix” things when the Lord answered my prayer.
As soon as this became clear to me I backed off to let the Lord do His work without my help.
There aren’t any scriptures which speak specifically to “soak cycle”. There are many scriptures about allowing the Lord to do His work and how His ways aren’t always our ways. I have found that most often my well intended ideas are not exactly what the Lord had in mind, how about you? But He is faithful to lead and guide us if we but listen.
(C) Marijo Phelps all rights reserved. Use with proper credits.
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I love this comparison. We too often try to help the Holy Spirit rather than to step back and let him do the work. I am not stating this very well but I think we are all guilty of this from time to time. GOD BLESS YOU
Hey, this is one of my favorites. It is written humorously(if there is such a thing) and also very seriously! Great job
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