When you get sad Jesus says in John 14:

 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

When you have sinned let your heart pour out to God like David did in Psalm 51(The Message):

 1-3 Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
   Scrub away my guilt,
      soak out my sins in your laundry.
   I know how bad I’ve been;
      my sins are staring me down.

 4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
      it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
   You have all the facts before you;
      whatever you decide about me is fair.
   I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
      in the wrong since before I was born.
   What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
      Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

 7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
      scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
   Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
      set these once-broken bones to dancing.
   Don’t look too close for blemishes,
      give me a clean bill of health.
   God, make a fresh start in me,
      shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
   Don’t throw me out with the trash,
      or fail to breathe holiness in me.
   Bring me back from gray exile,
      put a fresh wind in my sails!
   Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
      so the lost can find their way home.
   Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
      and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
   Unbutton my lips, dear God;
      I’ll let loose with your praise.

 16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
      a flawless performance is nothing to you.
   I learned God-worship
      when my pride was shattered.
   Heart-shattered lives ready for love
      don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

 18-19 Make Zion the place you delight in,
      repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
   Then you’ll get real worship from us,
      acts of worship small and large,
   Including all the bulls
      they can heave onto your altar!

When you have been hurt join David in this prayer from Psalm 27:5-6:

 5 For in the day of trouble
       he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
       he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
       and set me high upon a rock.

 6 Then my head will be exalted
       above the enemies who surround me;
       at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
       I will sing and make music to the LORD.

When you think God has left you, hold dear to Psalm 139 and 145:18 (The Message):

1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
   I’m an open book to you;
      even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
   You know when I leave and when I get back;
      I’m never out of your sight.
   You know everything I’m going to say
      before I start the first sentence.
   I look behind me and you’re there,
      then up ahead and you’re there, too—
      your reassuring presence, coming and going.
   This is too much, too wonderful—
      I can’t take it all in!

 7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
      to be out of your sight?
   If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
      If I go underground, you’re there!
   If I flew on morning’s wings
      to the far western horizon,
   You’d find me in a minute—
      you’re already there waiting!
   Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
      At night I’m immersed in the light!”
   It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
      night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

 13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
      you formed me in my mother’s womb.
   I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
      Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
      I worship in adoration—what a creation!
   You know me inside and out,
      you know every bone in my body;
   You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
      how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
   Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
      all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
   The days of my life all prepared
      before I’d even lived one day.

 17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
      God, I’ll never comprehend them!
   I couldn’t even begin to count them—
      any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
   Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
      And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
   And you murderers—out of here!—
      all the men and women who belittle you, God,
      infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
   See how I hate those who hate you, God,
      see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
   I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
      Your enemies are my enemies!

 23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
      find out everything about me;
   Cross-examine and test me,
      get a clear picture of what I’m about;
   See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
      then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Psalm 145:18 
18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
       to all who call on him in truth.

When you hurt remember the pure love God has given you described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

When you feel like giving up remember Psalm 27:14:

 14 Wait for the LORD;
       be strong and take heart
       and wait for the LORD.

Rest assured in Jesus Mark 8:34-35 (The Message):

34-37 Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?

My cordless phone battery keeps going dead. I have one of those manual labor phones. I don’t know if everyone has seen them. You know that one that you must stand up to answer the phone. That may be why the cordless phone keeps going dead; I am too lazy to put it on the base…

After digging out that old manual labor phone that I need a crash course on using and coming to the understanding that I can’t just leave it off the hook sitting next to my recliner or it will start barking something really loud until you put it back on it’s base… Wow I am being trained to put a phone back up! Maybe next I will take the trash out!

Any who.. I figured what I need is one of those phone splitter thingies that let you plug two phones into one jack that way I can have a sort of lazy phone redundancy.

I am a little on the tight end of the spectrum. You know, squeeze a dollar out of a dime! I know I have one of those phone splitters somewhere and where is the first place you look? Right; that junk drawer in the kitchen! Yep, the one that you have to slam a few times and break a few pencils and wedge something in on top that makes it so hard to open again.

I opened that drawer up finally and what I realized was that I got lured into checking out all that stuff, you know the junk. I scattered it all out on the counter top. I was amazed I still had all those dead AA batteries! You better believe those went in the freezer! Ok, maybe not he-he. Anyway, back on track. After rummaging through all this junk I realized something. I forgot what I was looking for. I got so involved in “What’s in my junk drawer” that I even forgot about the phone all together.

I want to share something with you that is not that easy for me to share. I am one of those that grew up without a lot of hugs from my Daddy. I was instilled to believe that showing emotion at all was a sign of weakness.

I have had a few of those “this is life” bombs dropped on me. You know, I thought I really had it together. I thought that I was putting all my hope and trust in God’s hands but in all honesty I was too proud of a manly man to realize that I have no control over my life or of the lives around me. It was not until I lost ALL control that I could truly give the Lord my trust and devotion. Finally after 35 years of being in the swine business I came back home to my father’s open arms. Read this to see what I mean: Luke 15: 11-32

I was hurting really badly after one of those life bombs hit me. I went to my heavenly father for comfort and of course I received it. But it took yet one more of those life bombs to make me truly understand how to receive his tender touch and loving arms around me.

After getting yet another call with the worst news could I get by telephone; I broke down. Finally after all these years I broke! Me the man who does not cry, me the man who breaks his foot and can’t remember how! Me the man who (thinks) is in control of his life and the lives of his family… I broke.

The first feeling I had was to find someone to comfort me. I was crying in the pharmacy while paying for my medicine and almost talked to the girl taking my money. I thought to myself; if only she will ask me if I am ok. I ran umm… I mean I hobbled out to the car and no sooner than I sat down I explode into a fit of tears. I could not breathe, I could not see. I thought I was going to die. I finally got enough composure to drive away from the person sitting next to me whom I thought; I kind of wish they would ask me am I ok.

I drove to my pastor’s house and he was not home. So I thought; he is a preacher, he must be at church. So I got it together again and drove to the church. No one was there, I thought if only someone would drive up and ask me if I am ok. So then I called his cell and guess what? He was not there. So, after hanging up and crying some more I called again and left him a message. I don’t think it was very understandable. I bet my pastor was really worried about me when he got out of his meeting and listened to or umm tried to decipher my message.

Upon leaving this message I hung up the phone and finally; I was a broken child who only needed a father’s arms around me. So I dialed the prayer phone to God. You know what? I got through with out any effort. Just as I can hear any of your voices He told me. “Come to me first my child” as I poured out my heart to Him and begged Him to take away this pain I heard again “A little while longer my child”. Then I don’t know how to put it to words but I felt Him hold me. I cried my heart out to Him and he ran down the street to meet me! Luke 15: 11-32

After pulling all that junk out of the junk drawer I realized something that is life changing that I had heard before from Dr. Stanley.

• 1. Tell God what your burden is.
• 2. Give your burden to him.
• 3. Move your focus from your burden to the burden bearer. Matthew 11:28-30

It is so easy to loose focus of the burden bearer and be consumed with the junk in the drawer. It is not until we put ALL our focus, ALL our love, ALL our illusion of control into his hands that we can truly know what our father can and will freely give to anyone who asks and believes in the Son and savior Jesus the Christ.

If I could do anything to prevent anyone from going through the pain I have went through in order for your eyes to be opened I would, but I know that some of you may be doing step 1. and 2. but maybe too preoccupied with what’s in your junk drawer to really focus on step 3. It is my prayer that if you are one of those like me that you would close that drawer and answer the phone. Our Father is waiting by it with an open ear and then with open arms.