A cool February\u00a0day. Gray clouds cover the blue sky I know is up there somewhere.\u00a0 My heart is heavy. My mind is full of to-dos. And a carefree toddler runs all around me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trying to pause my heart and mind I sit with her on the floor. She has a puzzle. Handing me the board she searches the floor for the missing animal. Looking for the elephant. Turning her head back and forth. “There it is!” She proclaims, “Behind the frog.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The elephant was hiding behind the frog. I let that soak in. The elephant is hiding behind the frog.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How can a huge elephant be hiding behind a small green frog?<\/p>\n
But isn’t that the truth? We do that. We try to hide elephants behind frogs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our struggles, our wounds, our sins the elephants we hide. We hide behind makeup, good works, and church attendance. The frogs, small actions we do to try to cover up and hide the pain going on inside. But are the frogs really working? Are our struggles, wounds and sins covered?<\/p>\n
Only Jesus Christ is big enough to cover up our elephants. Only Christ can make whole, make clean our struggles, wounds and sins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What elephants do you need to bring before God? What frogs are failing?<\/p>\n
This lesson from a simple toddler puzzle stirs my heart. Convicts my soul. However, it is beautiful. The Holy Spirit moving in us. The Holy Spirit revealing the elephants we are hiding behind the frog. Letting Christ take the place of the frogs we have chosen for so long is not easy. Being vulnerable\u00a0makes us feel naked. In this nakedness is where we can find freedom. Where the heavy elephants we have been carrying can be released. And the frogs can become sincere works of faith and trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1 John 2:2\u00a0He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins\u2014and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.<\/em> NLT<\/p>\n Proverbs 28:13\u00a0Whoever conceals their sins\u00a0does not prosper,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>but the one who confesses\u00a0and renounces them finds mercy.<\/em> NIV<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Romans 11:6\u00a0And since it is through God\u2019s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For <\/em>in that case, God\u2019s grace would not be what it really is\u2014free and undeserved.<\/em> NLT<\/p>\n Psalm 18:2\u00a0The\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0is my rock,\u00a0my fortress\u00a0and my deliverer;\u00a0<\/span>my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em>my shield\u00a0and the horn of my salvation,\u00a0my stronghold.<\/em> NLT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A cool February\u00a0day. Gray clouds cover the blue sky I know is up there somewhere.\u00a0 My heart is heavy. My mind is full of to-dos. And a carefree toddler runs all around me.\u00a0 Trying to pause my heart and mind I sit with her on the floor. She has a puzzle. Handing me the board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","sharing_disabled":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[6,7,14],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/shutterstock_340381418.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7NWg5-iZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1179,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions\/1179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}