Message In a Bottle

I love glass bottles.  When I was younger my aunt always drank Coke out of the old green glass bottles and when we would come for a visit, she would let me drink as many as I wanted.  I thought I had tasted no better beverage in my life.  To this day I still get excited when I see a bottled Coke!

When my husband and I were dating, we spent much of our time at the parks in our college town.  Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we loved sitting in the sunshine during the cool, crisp fall air or fresh spring breezes.  We would sit on a blanket and talk for hours, often eating Twizzlers and drinking IBC Root Beer, Cokes, Stewart's Orange & Creams, or other sodas in glass bottles.  I still have some of those glass bottles from those special days.

For the first few years of our marriage, those bottles sat on the windowsill in the sunny yellow kitchen in our little townhouse.  I put a Gerbera Daisy in each one.

The other night, in a heartbreaking moment when I desperately needed it, God brought to my mind a verse from Scripture.

Psalm 56:8 "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book."

I absolutely love that!  So often we think God has forgotten us when we are hurting, but rather He is wiping our tears away, collecting them in His bottle.  He isn't overlooking our painful experiences, rather He is writing them in His journal.  When I read this passage, I can almost hear Him whispering, "Sweetheart, I see you and I know what's going on.  I love you and I won't forget this...I'm writing it down, and I will take care of you."  And I picture Him putting my tears in a bottle like the ones I keep that hold so many memories.

That night I pulled some of those bottles out of my pantry and put them on the counter as a reminder of this verse.  They have sat there for the past few days, and make me smile when I see them.

It's like my own message in a bottle.

And I have to say, I also find comfort in the following verse, Psalm 56:9...."On the very day I call to you for help, my enemies will retreat. This I know: God is on my side."

There it is.  If we know Him, love Him, and trust Him, He sees our pain...He writes it down...He remembers....He bottles our tears....and He is on our side.

Take comfort on the journey my friend.