God, Mashed Potatoes, and Gravy

Last year, one of my favorite Bible teachers, Beth Moore, shared a profound thought that hit me like a ton of bricks. It forced me to reach deep down inside myself and reconsider everything I had believed about the longings of my heart and the ways I had been attempting (and failing miserably) to satisfy them. As I paraphrase the thought, consider what areas in your own life this may apply to:

God created us with a hunger inside that can only be filled by Him. We can try and fill that hunger with money, fame, distractions, friends, and even our spouse or children, but we will still never be satisfied. In the end, we will only end up creating strife in our relationships by trying to fill a God-sized hole with human-sized fixes. It will never work. Instead, we must think of it this way: God is like mashed potatoes and our friends and family are the gravy. We should be so filled up and satisfied with God that any love we receive from others is just the gravy on top! Our relationships are meant to OVERFLOW us, not to FILL us.

The comparison may be humorous, but the reality of it isn't. I am not hard up for examples of times in my life when the opposite of the "mashed potatoes and gravy" theory has applied. In fact, I believe it's evident in every moment of loneliness, in each twinkling of fear, in every expression of discontentment. It's as if we're filling a hungry belly with a few sips of water and expecting to be nourished. You can color an egg blue, but it won't make it hatch. You can set your leg in a cast, but it won't heal a broken arm. You stay up till midnight studying your History textbooks, but they won't help you ace your Math quiz.

Silly examples? Perhaps. But are we not doing just that? If we viewed our hunger through the eyes of God, would we not be thinking, "But you're going at it all wrong..."? Isn't trying to make our spouse or children fit into God-sized shoes as ridiculous as trying to patch up a crack in the foundation of a house with a glob of mayonnaise? It's doomed to fail.

Human-sized fixes come in all shapes, sizes, an disguises. From our spouse's early promise to "give us the world," to a long-awaited pregnancy, to infomercials that tells us that self-esteem, popularity, and satisfaction can be ours for the low, low price of $19.95 + shipping and handling. We fall for these lies willingly because they are tangible and don't require faith to receive them. In an "instant" and insatiable society like ours, we would rather have an empty "here-and-now" than a satisfied "there-and-then". Trusting God to fill our emptiness requires a faith that we may not realize we're capable of, or a trust we may not believe will be rewarded. But we ARE capable, and we WILL be rewarded...

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." -Hebrews 11:6

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1

Let me put this plainly. No need in heaven or on earth is too big for the God who created it to fill. No desire, regardless of how great, is He unable or unwilling to meet. He is not only uniquely qualified to satisfy us emotionally and spiritually, but physically as well. Are you longing for an embrace? Ask Him to hold you. Do you feel you've lost your way? Ask Him to grab hold of your hand. Are you tired? Ask Him to give you rest.

"You have not because you ask not." -James 4:2b

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. -Matthew 7:7

If we will but choose to find our satisfaction in God, we will know a peace beyond comprehension. We will not only run and not grow weary, but we will walk and not be faint. He longs to satisfy you, dear friend.

Will you come and be filled?

-Kelley

~ A Glimpse of Heaven ~

What a beautiful mystery life on Earth is! Who can know the sum of God's thoughts or what inspired Him to create such beauty, all in the name of love? I ponder these questions in my heart, though I know full well that I'll never truly comprehend their answers as long as I have breath.

As I sit upon the infamous ocean cliffs that, years ago, connected me to all the things I love most about the artist who created them (the crashing waves, the smell of salty air, the breeze blowing through my hair...), I'm reminded that this beautiful scenery is not only a gift from my Savior, but a self-portrait of Him. All these sights that energize me and make my heart leap for joy are merely a glimpse... a reflection of God's beauty, manifested in physical form.



So often we struggle with a God who seems intangible and distant to us. We long for His physical embrace; stroking our hair, caressing our cheek, and His hand holding ours as we struggle through life in a fallen world. But how many of us take the time to pause during our busy day and notice that these tangible desires are not absent from our relationship with Him? Can you imagine a triune and omnipresent God, who knows the precise count of hairs on our head, and yet is incapable or unwilling to fulfill the physical needs He created us with? God has not created us with a single need that He alone cannot fulfill. Though it's true that He often uses creation or other people to overflow our vats, there is not a single thing that we truly NEED that He can't fulfill.

Admittedly, all these thoughts beg the question: "Why, then, do we find ourselves longing for these God-created needs, only to conclude that, when all of our prayers and energies have been exhausted, God still doesn't reach down from Heaven and embrace us?"



The question "why?" is, without a doubt, one of the main things that keeps people from accepting Salvation. "Why does God allow pain and suffering?" "Why do bad things happen to 'good' people?" "Why doesn't God hear my prayers and heal my dying child?" Though these questions are heartfelt and genuine, the answers are not a secret... we usually just don't want to accept them. We may never fully understand the "why?", but we do know "how" it all came to be. Pain and suffering occur because we live in a sinful, fallen world. As long as we are still waiting for Christ to return, we will have to endure hardship and suffering.

In all of our questioning, there is one thing important to know: The Lord does not keep His touch from us. He sends us a breeze, rainfall, falling snow... and let us not forget those Spirit-filled "chills" we experience when our hearts are fully surrendered to Him and we know that He's about to do something great in us. We may not have the pleasure of God's full embrace until we spend Eternity with Him, but we must realize that He is still near and longing to touch us.



I implore you to find that place that makes you feel close to God (the beach, a beautiful church, the mountains, solitude...) and spend time with Him there often, if not daily. Stop trying to find God's touch in the hurriedness and distractions of the day and take a few moments to get away to that secret place where He can hold you in His arms and give your blessed heart a little glimpse of Heaven.

All My Love,
Kelley White