This past week I needed a root canal for a tooth that has been hurting.  Fortunately it wasn't a really painful tooth ache, but around the sixth day, I decided I definitely couldn't live with a sore mouth anymore.  My dentist is terrific and he even took time to explain to me how there are three roots from the tooth and he had to go in and clean them out and close them off.  I still have to go back two more times for a permanent filling and then the crown.  It was really just a small thing, but as I recovered I got to thinking about God's work in my life over the years.

Last week Jen posted Psalm 139 which is one of my favorites.  This psalm, which speaks so beautifully of God knitting us together and knowing us intimately, ends with a prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  I have found the thoughts in this prayer to be essential to my living a life that is full of joy and peace.  I have to let God look into my life and show me things that need some fixing or cleaning.  I would rather not go through this painful process, but He is a gentle "surgeon", cutting away the bad and allowing me to grow and thrive.

It would be so much easier -so it seems- to just cover up these areas and not submit to God's healing process.  Hebrews 12:11 speaks of this when it says, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."  You may have heard the saying, "God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way."  We are not alone when we say "ouch!" and wonder why God seems like He is not letting up on teaching us another lesson!  Everyone who has come to Him as Savior and Master has moments of saying, "Lord, could you give me a little break and let things be easy for awhile?!"

Even Jesus, during His time on earth, learned through his experiences.  He was the perfect Son of God, and yet Hebrews 5:8 says, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered."  If Jesus could learn valuable lessons during His stay on earth, how much more do I need to learn during my journey everyday?

Sometimes my painful lessons come because of my own stubbornness and sin.  Other times they come because of the sin and selfishness of others.  Most frequently they come because of living in this "crappy, broken world" (so my daughter, Christy, calls it!).   In whatever way God's careful discipline comes into my life, it works best when I relax and let Him have His way.  It's amazing how this changes my perspective and allows me to say "You know best, God.  I don't like this, but more than anything, I want You to have Your way in my life.

My tooth, and the whole side of my mouth are feeling so much better!  I will still be back in that dentist chair again next month, trying to be a good patient!  As the hygenist hands the dentist the tools to finish the dental work, I plan to do another personal inventory with God.  Am I submitting to His plan for my life and letting Him remove what He needs to so I can bear lots of good fruit and serve well where He has placed me? 

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith - which is of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 
II Peter 1:6,7

Joy