Something amazing just happened!

I came to a coffee shop this afternoon. I ordered a hot chocolate, which came loaded with whip cream and chocolate syrup drizzled on top. This is something that in a former life I loved, and would down. I say a former life because for the last two months I have had hardly no sugar. While this sounds like a diet fad, it has been so much more than that for me. See, food has been something I have hidden behind. It has been a source of sin, a source of idolatry. Recently God invited me to come out of hiding. I feel for the last several years and then ramped up in the last two months, God has been peeling me like an onion. He has not sliced me open, but more pulled back layer at a time of things that don't jive with who he is. He has stripped me, layer by layer of my hiding spots: having to have everything all together, my wardrobe, my need to be needed, and now food (particularly sugar). At each layer, he has paused before hand and given me a choice, "Are you ready for me to pull this one back?" While I have hesitated at the oncoming pain, I have given him permission at each turn.

Now, I can confidently say that I am on the verge of the greatest intimacy I have ever had with the Lord and I believe it is coming because these layers are being removed. Today, I ordered my hot chocolate, a symbol of the slavery I once lived in. Tears came to my eyes as I drank half the cup of hot chocolate and was done. I didn't want any more. I enjoyed the little bit I had, but then put it aside and am done. The full cup of hot chocolate was a symbol of my enslavement. The half empty cup of hot chocolate is a symbol of my freedom. I can't even express the contentment and joy that is welling up inside me. I am a loved child of God. Oh how good he is that he can bring good news for the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, freedom for captives, open prison gates for the bound, comfort for those who mourn, beauty for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He has called me an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, for the display of His glory.

I don't deserve a love like this, but I receive it. Today I rejoice over my half drunk cup of hot chocolate!