So failure's not your cup of tea, eh?

I give the tea bag in my mug a little bopping around in the hot water--it's practically dancing in the water as it releases all of the flavor from its dried up leaves. It's black tea, and rather strong. I normally drink green tea, or roobios (red tea), and of course herbal teas...but this afternoon I felt the need for some black tea. Because I'm not feeling so strong, so I hold onto a strong God and drink strong tea. And watch the sun rays fall while snow falls paradoxically. 

Who knew that such little bags of crushed leaves could produce so much flavor? 

Perhaps you're feeling dried up, crushed, and about to be drowned in boiling water. Maybe you're at a time in your life when not much is happening, or too many of the "wrong" things are happening. I say "wrong" because really, when you think about it, God is never surprised and He's the One that plans out our lives, right? So if He is sovereign and ruling over everything, how can something, from God's perspective, go wrong? 

Do you hear the steam rising up from the tea pot, screaming for attention on a hot stove? Do you hear the crowds taunting you? A thousand voices at once...they must be addressed, they must be faced...the teapot is about to burst. 

So are you. 

Have you been pummeled with fallings and failures till you're bruised, bashed and not sure if you'll ever get out of it? Just wait on the Lord.

The steam simmers down as the tea pot's taken off the burner and the water is poured. But oh, no, it's poured on us. We're submerged. There's no way out of it, and just when you feel the water come above your chin, a beautiful, startling thing begins to happen.

God's grace turns the water into a fragrant, soothing drink--filled with His mercies and an awestruck awareness that all of that beating, bruising, drying and now boiling was for a purpose: to exude His love and all the power of humility that was being stored up within you while, with God's strength, you endured and now produce the deep, rich color of the healing tea. 

Not one drop of water can escape this change of circumstances. At first your head was beneath the surface and you were struggling...now you feel the change within and around you and you rise up in the steam to greet your Maker. All that you endured was for a reason. If you don't go through those trials, you'll find that when the boiling water is poured over you, you're only a weak tea...the water hardly turns color...it still tastes like water. The world sees and tastes no difference. Trust me, the seasons of crushing and dryness are for a reason. They're made to build up a strength with God that cannot do anything but overcome the boiling waters of life with His sweet, strong, nourishing fragrance.

If tea makers take the vibrant, growing leaves of tea plants and weaken them by drying, beating, and bagging...only to turn them into some of the strongest packages of flavor that exist, do you not agree that God can do the same thing with us as His beloved children?

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."                  ~2nd Corinthians 12:9