Crushed

This thought was highlighted this morning
while finishing up Embraced by the Spirit
by Charles Swindoll

"When God wants to do an impossible thing,
He takes an impossible individual...
and crushes him.

Being crushed means being reshaped-
to be a vital, compassionate,
useful instrument in His hands.

From Paul the apostle...a critical insight to learn
during any season of suffering:
that we might come to a complete end of ourselves
and learn the power of total dependence.

When Paul's own strength had ebbed away,
he found another strength.
When his own will to go on faded like that last morning star,
the sun of a new hope blazed on his horizon.
When he finally hit bottom,
Paul learned that he was in the palm of God's hand.
He could sink no lower than the Everlasting Arms."

I know that I have felt crushed, steam rolled and desperate
many times in my life.
Sometimes I was doing the crushing,
by my own stubbornness, selfishness, blindness,
sometimes others were responsible for the act.
Most times, I can look back now,
it was God reshaping me.

Every day I wake up wanting to be used by God,
as the most impossible, flawed person I know.
A lot of those days I forget to put Him first on the list.
When He does come first, the days seem to flow better,
I get more accomplished, I meet people with different eyes.

If you are being crushed now,
remember that God will work it out for the best.
Maybe not how you would plan it,
but it will be for the perfect best.

I pray that you allow yourself to be crushed.