those cool lil God moments

God moments. Sacred moments of grace. Whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about. Those times when you're going through something, dealing with an issue and you know the truth, but a little extra confirmation is always nice? Well, I got mine... and in a big way.

In my previous post I wrote about my backyard. I knew that God absolutely was calling me to rid of some 'friendships' in my life and to get them out of my backyard. I was confident of it. I haven't been to my church in weeks. I was out of town for 2 and because of some other things, it has caused me to miss. They were doing a series on raising kids and forgive me, but it wasn't something I was excited about. Sure, maybe I'll be there one day, but it's not exactly what I'm in the market to hear right now. Isn't it just like God to find a way to shut me up?

My pastor is cutting edge. He's definitely out of the box, but what he did on Sunday... was extreme for even him. We have 5 total weekend services. Two on Saturday night and three on Sunday. I happened to be at the very last one on Sunday. The sermon was titled 'Return of the Leeches'. Um. Huh? In a jar on stage he had... yep, you guessed it... leeches. While he began explaining about leeches, he stuck his hand in the jar and started pushing them around. To my horror, he didn't stop there. He rolled up his sleeve and pulled two out placing them on his bare arm. This being the last service, he had already done this four other times. The results of the previous times were evident in the bloodstained places all over his arm. As he talked for about 10 minutes explaining how these creatures act, the leeches remained on his arm... attached. It made my skin crawl. I had no idea where he was going, but just hoped he would get there quickly. The words he spoke next, were profound to me.

He explained that there are people in our lives strictly there to take from us. The leeches on his arm were taking from him, feeding off him, but giving him nothing in return. We have people that are strictly there to suck the life out of us. We allow them to latch on and when we do, it's difficult to get them off, the same with the leech attached to his arm. They feed off our vulnerability and take whatever they can from us giving us nothing in return. He then pointed to the other places on his scarred arm. He had barely been able to get the bleeding to stop from the previous service to begin this one. He then said that even when we rid the leeches in our lives, the effects they've had on our life are still evident and many times we are left... still bleeding. As he removed them, it was rather difficult for him to. He had a paper towel and throughout the service he continually had to wipe the blood from his arm. By the time the service was finished, the entire paper towel was red. He knew this was extreme, but asked if any of us would have understood the effects if we hadn't seen it with out own eyes? It's just like us... to need that. God moment? A huge one.

I walked out almost unable to speak. I was shocked at the little amount of faith I'd had in God to teach me that day and in the magnitude He showed up. When God has spoken to you He will show you and confirm to you over and over again the direction you are supposed to head. I felt it in the depths of my soul that these people I needed to rid myself of still had me bleeding. The effects may never truly go away, but how much stronger can I be if this 'leech' isn't trying to suck the life out of me? I had given them too much power for way too long. Allowed them to be in fellowship with me and it was causing me everything I wasn't willing to give. I'm no longer willing to sacrifice who I am to please people that have given me NOTHING in return... those who are only there to take, take, take. Sure I got it before... I understood they needed to be gone... but who knew it would take a leech attached to my pastor's arm... to really get it.