heart that is weary

I had intentions of sitting down last night to write something about everything. Then we discovered our basement had flooded with sewage. All 3 boys were running around saying "It smells like poo in here," and I wasn't even cooking Thanksgiving turkey, there really was poop in our basement! Apparently, one of our boys had thrown rocks down a pipe last week in our basement and now our drains are backed up and flowing onto the floor. Why do things like this happen the day before we're planning to leave for spring break...
More practice to look for the bright side.
So, now that I'm not allowed to run the water or wash the dishes or do the laundry or poop in our toilets, I have time to sit down and write a little something.  Although I'm not sure what, after writing poop so much in one post.  How about I try to remember what I would have written last night before the evening consisted of bleach and a wet-vac.  

It's that time of year when I break out Amy Carmichael's If. It is small enough to fit in your pocket, but don't let it fool you. It's not a quick read. It's in the suitcase, to muse over this next week. Last year, this pierced me right through:

If the praise of man elates me and his blame depresses me; 

if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself; 

if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served than to serve, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

~Amy Carmichael, If

This week, I have read and re-read this every day:

No vision of the night can show, no word declare, 

with what longings of love Divine Love waits till the heart, all weary and sick of itself, 

turns to the Lord and says, "Take full possession."  

There is no need to plead that the love of God shall fill our heart 

as though He were unwilling to fill us: 

He is as willing as light is willing to flood a room that is opened to its brightness; 

willing as water is willing to flow in an emptied channel.  

Love is pressing round us on all sides like air.  

Cease to resist, and instantly love takes possession.

~Amy Carmichael, If

Oh, heart that is weary and sick of itself, want to hear the bright side? 
Cease to resist, and instantly Love takes over.     

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.

1 John 4.16b-17a {NLT}

Feel so very far from living in love, from your love being perfect?  
That is right where He wants to meet you, to flood you with light as you pull back the curtains of your heart.

For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.

~ Jesus, Matthew 9.13b {NLT}

Wherever this week takes you, whether on a 20-hour road trip or another day of the same-ol'-same-ol', I pray we learn to cease to resist.  

Let Love take full possession.

Happy Spring Break-ing!!  We're working on our winks (and our smiles :)