Back to the house.

So apparently house analogies is how God is choosing to speak to me recently. So I have another one for you. :) I receive a devotional, "Encouragement for Today". God has used this in SOOO many ways to speak to me. Last week I had 2 days where I was so crabby. Everyone gets crabby once in a while. I had never been crabby quite like this where I was just emotional, sad, and angry for two days. Not quite sure why. So anyway, one day I got my devotion, through email, from Encouragement for Today. Here was the story.

One day a man and a woman come home to find a notice on their door from the housing committee in their neighborhood. The notice stated that the outside of the house was in poor shape and needed to be repainted within thirty days or they would be fined. The woman was furious. They have been renovating the inside, working on the kitchen and the living room. Why couldn't they have looked through the window sills that they were complaining about to see all the work that they have done inside the house. She decided to go out to the street to look at the house. From the street the house looked fine. She became that much more angry, they must have had to walk onto the property and look closer to see the outside of the house. Humiliation set in as she imagined her neighbors sitting around discussing the condition of their home.

When it came time to start painting she herself had to take a closer look at the outside of the home. She focused so much on renovating the inside that she hadn't taken notice that due to cold and wind that indeed the paint had thinned. The outside of the home was worn and needed a fresh coat of paint. She became grateful that someone had taken the time to look up close and personal. The outside of the home could have become more damaged and this brought it to their attention so that they could fix it.

Ok so that was the story. Now I think that there are a couple of ways that this can be taken but this is how it spoke to me. During my crabbiness I was informed that I was not viewed as a generally happy person. This made me so sad. I had just recently told a friend that I am the happiest I remember being in a long time, maybe even ever. How could I feel so happy and yet some how portray that I am not a happy person. I am the kind of person who vocalizes my struggles. I think out loud. I started to wonder why it was that I appear so unhappy when I feel so happy. Not only am I vocal but I am very emotional and passionate. The things that are going on in my life that are good I don't think I vocalize as much as I vocalize the struggles. The struggles I am wrestling with, I am trying to analyze and figure out. However, why do I do this? This goes back a little bit to cleaning out the deep corners of our souls, our "houses". I feel like I have been focusing on cleaning out the inside of my house. Renovating it, as they said. I think to some extent we are supposed to be aware of the inside of our homes but maybe what we are supposed to do is relinquish that to God.. Matthew 6 tells us not to worry. Not only that we are not supposed to worry but that it will not add a single day to our lives. It doesn't do us any good. I claim to believe in a God that is bigger then me, knows me better then I know myself, loves me and wants what's best for me. Why would I worry if I am putting my life in his hands, am I really trusting him? So the point is I can't just focus on the inside of my house but I also have to be concious of what I am reflecting on the outside. I am choosing to let God take over the inside and focus on reflecting the things that bring me joy in my life.

Yesterday Don and I went to a Liberian church. This was for his schooling. We ended up being early and catching the end of their Sunday School time. They ended it with " If you're Happy and you know it?" How fitting right? It's amazing that a simple children's song can have such an impact. They sing it like this... " If you're Happy and you know then your LIFE will surely show it, if you're Happy and you know it shout AMEN." So off I go today focusing on the joy that God has given me in my life and I think Brody & I are going to sing that song today. I totally recommend it, because you can't sing it without smiling!! :)