Squeezing the Butter

There are a couple of YouTube channels that I enjoy and watch regularly. All of them have to do with simple living and getting back to basics. I watched one the other day that had to do with how to make your own butter.

In this day of modern conveniences it's fairly simple. You whip heavy cream in a stand mixer so that it gets past the point of whipped cream and the buttermilk begins to separate from the butter. You strain off the buttermilk and squeeze the butter to get all the liquid out. But then you have to rinse the butter in cold water and keep rinsing and squeezing to get every last bit of the sour buttermilk out. Otherwise your butter will go rancid pretty quickly. When you are finished, you have creamy delicious butter in just a few minutes.

I've been sick at home all weekend and too sick to do much of anything. In between dozing off I've been coughing and blowing my nose and feeling generally miserable. I've been too sick to do any activity, but have spent a lot of time in prayer.

As I was laying in bed yesterday morning and praying about various situations in my life, I had a moment of absolute clarity where I heard from the Lord. He said, "I am squeezing you like butter."

I so clearly saw the image of God using all the circumstances in my life to shape and mold me into a woman that spreads His message to those around me. But in order to spread easily and not go rancid, He needs to wash me and squeeze out all the impurities. I look like butter, but there is still some "buttermilk" in there. Things such as insecurity, bad attitudes, and sinful thoughts and behaviors that need to be squeezed out so that I can be pure.

I think I'm done and ready. And often, I say, "That's enough rinsing and squeezing, Lord!" But He says, "Not yet." Let me continue to rinse out those hidden things and wring it all out and then you will be the woman I have called you to be.

When you are making butter, it looks like it's done, and yet  it needs more rinsing in order to get the buttermilk out. We need a rinsing of the Holy Spirit to help us get those impurities out. And the rinsing often comes through the hard things we go through.

I am thankful this morning for that image I received yesterday. I am thankful that the Lord loves me enough to want to squeeze out all the junk so I can be used by Him to spread His encouragement to a discouraged world.