Correction is Cleansing

Raise your hand if life ever feels like being out in the middle of an ocean fighting against the waves to survive (my hand is up)... Some days it might be doggy paddle kinda days where the water is smooth and the sun is shining but other days oh that's when the storm is rolling in and you are going under. Your not just drowning you are being pulled toward the mirky bottom. 

I hate those days, sometimes it's many of them in a row. I don't always understand why things happen. I know sometimes it's my own fault and sometimes it's the enemy BUT sometimes it is the Lord. He allows things to happen sometimes in our life and sometimes it is a correction that we need. I have resolved my self, at this age, to know I am just not knowledgeable like the Lord. Proverbs 3:5 tells me to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." That word direct is from the Hebrew word yâshar which means to be straight and to be right. So what ever is going on in life, even in the deepest of waters, I know that if I trust in the Lord He is continually straightening my path. 

I also know that with this verse from Proverbs 20:30 that "Blows that hurt cleanse evil, as do stripes the inner depths of our heart" See the Lord is searching our hearts and for the ones who love Him, He will continue to cleanse us and straighten our path. We should actually be honored that the God of the universe corrects us, chastisement out of love is a good thing! 

Last night my son made a bad decision that led to our daughter getting hurt and as a punishment I made him write sentences. Oh how he cried at the unfairness of the whole event. Oh how he thought he was the victim, even though his sisters lip was bleeding. Don't we tend to think we're the victim and that things coming against us are unjust? But wouldn't I have been wrong had I not corrected him? We have to accept the Lords correction and lean not on our own understanding knowing that He is a loving father who wants to bring us to submission for His glory and when He is glorified our deepest longing to be satisfied is fulfilled!