2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Elevatehopehouse.org/dayofprayer
If you know me at all, you know know that I absolutely love Lysa Terkerust. This very early morning, I woke up from a dream that was a little too real, and potentially God sent. As I turn through pages of devotions, I am reminded of Lysa’s words around an “olive tree.” For the olive to be edible, “it has to go through a lengthy process that includes: washing, breaking, soaking, sometimes salting, and waiting some more. It is a lengthy process to be cured of bitterness and prepared for usefulness.” At the end, an olive must be “crushed,” but it isn’t the end for the olive… “Crushing is the way of preservation for the olive. It’s also the way to get what’s most valuable, the oil, out of the olive. Keeping this perspective is how we can be troubled on every side yet not distressed … pressed to the point of being crushed but not crushed and destroyed.” I am thankful that the Lord continues to guide me through my moments, both past and present, of being “crushed,” and reminds me when I need Him to most that He is with me in the trials, will use them for His purpose, as well as my preservation.