Empty jars

I have recently been challenged about giving God what is in my hands ,not because i don't want him to have it, but because in all honesty i don't know what i have to give

Have you ever felt that way?

Its almost like for years and years what you have and who you are has been consumed by maybe what you do, and somewhere along the way your talents and gifts are buried under a mountain of lies from the enemy that tells you your a empty vessel with nothing to give.

It got me thinking about the widow in 2 kings 4vs1

We don't even know her name all we know is she is known as "a certain woman" a widow who was poor and broken.
A women whose surroundings were desolate
She is in great need when Elisha asked what does she have in her house, she replied nothing but a jar of  oil,so he tells her she must go and borrow empty vessels from her neighbors ...now can you imagine what she was thinking.

 I mean empty vessels what good are they?
Why not vessels that have something in them?

But she trusted and obeyed and went.God uses everything we have even when we think its little or insignificant he never wastes anything.
When she brought the empty vessels home she was told to pour the oil in them.
Now i know for me I am not that good at math, but even i know that the small jar of oil is by no way going to fill the vessels that she had borrowed.

 But she again obeyed and began to pour and the oil kept pouring out and pouring out until every vessel was filled
As i meditated on this I imagined her being in awe as she saw the miracle before her eyes as she saw Gods amazing provision before her eyes for herself and her sons
Yet that is also what he longs to do with us
our lives empty and surrendered and he shows up and asks us what do we have?
 ....and like the widow we may only have a little oil left, or we may not even know what we have, However God does
So the challenge is what do we have, that HE can multiply and use
even in a season of lack we still have something to offer and that something is our life

A piece of old fabric

Down in the fabric shop 

that's were she lay 

a piece of old fabric 

that was starting to fray 

She wasn't like the others
 neatly stacked in to a pile 

she was thrown on the floor 

 she had been there for a while 

She was dirty and dusty 

as she laid on the floor 

covered in footprints 

That no one would pay for 

Then early one morning 

some one came to the store 

as soon as they entered

they looked on the floor 

And there lay the fabric 

all dusty and worn

not neat like the rest 

but crumpled and torn 

the old man bent down 

and with a smile on his face

he picked up the fabric

'ahh Iam in the right place'

He proceeded  with joy 

to the cashiers desk

this torn dusted fabric 

 no longer grotesque 

How much for this piece 

i love it so much 

the colours so vibrant 

and so soft to touch 

oh that's not for sale sir

the cashier said 

its just an old scrap 

that's worn with no thread 

oh no my dear 

you don't understand

scraps are not scraps

 when there inside my hand

                                               Copyright © 2013 [Deb Matheson]. All Rights Reserved.

No matter what has happened

 in our lives, we may feel torn and worn battered and bruised 'but in the hands of Jesus he sees potential and beauty and makes everything new