My daughter knows I have written many devotionals in the past and shared them on several outdoor forums. She said she felt led to write a devotional on what the Lord showed her last night. She asked if she could share it on Aldeer and I informed her most "Aldeerians" are early morning workers and it would need to be posted early. She promptly started writing last night as I went to bed and I'm posting her work this morning. Needless to write, I'm pleased and proud of her. May the Glory go to God in the Highest.

“Carving our lives for the Lord”

Philippians 1:4-7
4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Last night, once my dad got home from work, and had cleaned up a bit, he started working on preparing some hog meat for us to grill today for lunch. I really love the way he cooks it, and since I am home for spring break, he had promised me earlier that once it had thawed and was ready, we would marinate it overnight, and cook it the next day. I’ve always enjoyed watching and helping my dad prepare different types of meat. Sometimes he has asked for my help, sometimes I ask, and then other times, like last night, I simply just stand there watching.

While I was watching, I suddenly had a realization that the process of preparing the meat to get ready to be cooked was so incredibly similar to what God wants to do with our lives. The meat was covered in fat and “icky things” as I like to call it, which, if you think about it, is what our lives are like without God: full of “icky things” or sin. Now, before my dad started to expertly carve away at the meat, all the fat and other stuff really only appeared to be surface level. But, once the knife started going and cutting, it became very obvious rather quickly just how deep all of those strands and paths of fat went. If it had been me, I would have just given up, said “forget this”, and just cut the meat up as it was, which would have resulted in something that didn’t nearly taste as good as Daddy’s version.

But, my dad very meticulously and patiently went through that whole slab of meat to cut away ONLY the bad parts. There wasn’t any extra meat that was wasted from cutting too deeply, nor did his hands ever get frustrated and just strip the fat away, taking the good stuff with it. Then, once all the meat was cut up nicely and placed in a bag, he saw that it was pretty bloody. You can’t really mix other seasonings with that well. So, he very carefully drained all the blood without letting any of the meat fall out, and then he transferred the meat to a clean bag, before pouring the italian dressing into that new bag, AND THEN placing that bag in an even bigger bag and closing it air tight to make sure nothing could possibly leak or get into the meat bag. All of the fat and nasty stuff was put in a separate bag and thrown away.


Now, I want you to think about an experience you’ve had with an incompetent butcher. You took your meat up to the counter and asked for this or that, and when you got the meat back, it either wasn’t what you asked for, looked absolutely terrible, and maybe it even smelled rotten. This is what Satan and sin does to our lives. All of that fat and nasty stuff seemed surface level, as if it would be super easy to just get rid of. And frankly, sometimes the fat actually tastes pretty good, even though it isn’t good for us. Sound familiar? But, that isn’t how sin works. When you let it in, it burrows it way down, deeper, and deeper until it's hard to tell where all in your life it has affected. And then suddenly, Satan is cutting away at you, leaving spiritual scars and ripping out all those things he promised would make you feel better and now you're left with bigger holes to be filled than you started with and parts of you are missing. Now let's look at what God does with the meat, or our lives.


The knife is like God’s truth and His Word. Then we have His Hands, which guide the knife and our lives to mold and shape it as He deems fit (you know, when we actually let Him). And during the whole process, He is standing there overseeing all of it, ensuring that it all goes according to His plans. When we surrender our lives, allow Him to take over, and we stand back and just watch His Work, He will quickly begin cutting all of the “icky things” (sin) out of our lives to leave behind a fresh clean slate of our best parts to be prepared as He would want us. And just like my dad, He is so incredibly patient (even more patient) and so attentive to detail to only take away what needs to be. Our Father’s hands are so loving and caring, and there is no better place for our lives to be than within His Hands.

His greatest desire is for us to come to Him, give Him our lives, and then sit back and trust that He knows what He is doing with it. And even though His words may be sharp, and it may sting just a little to hear and receive the truth about what we know we shouldn’t be doing, and while it may hurt some to let God work and remove all those things, it’s done entirely out of love for us. Like the blood on the meat that was drained and then just like how the meat got a new bag, Jesus’s blood covers our lives and is poured out upon us to take our punishment so that we may be new creations in Him and our lives are considered white as snow. Our sin, God takes and discards it, never to be seen again. And like the dressing and the big extra bag, the Holy Spirit is poured over us and we are protected from anything or anyone that may want to harm us.


When we simply turn to Jesus, and allow Him to cover us with his blood and make us new, when we run to the Father and let Him take the wheel, take the knife to carve us to be his masterpiece, when we fall into His loving, tender hands, when we simply watch what God can do, we can be that pristine, ready to go, ready to be made at His will, piece of meat.



Father God,

You are the Potter, we are the clay, or rather you are the butcher, and we are the meat.
Thank You for Your skilled hands and all knowingness.
Forgive us, for thinking we can do it all, and fill the holes in us with things, other than You.
Yes it provides some form of satisfaction, but it is short lived. Let us be filled with the Holy Spirit and the total Peace of You.

Fill us with Your love, grace, and mercy.
Let us be carved into the masterpieces which glorify You, and are crafted by Your hands.

Thank You for Your Word, and the guidance by the Holy Spirit.
We come to You with differences of needs, but open arms and hearts, and call upon the Saving name of Jesus to be our Saviour, our Healer, our Father, our Provider.

For it is in His name, Jesus, we ask and claim these things, Amen!!




God Bless,
David B. per Faith's request

Amen and thanks for sharing!

Boff, thats one of the best things i ever read that a child wrote to, for, or about their daddy. The fact that she looks at your life, even the things as simple as preparing and cooking a piece of meat, and sees the Lord at work is just beautiful and exactly as God intended our lives to be. Reading that made my day better and strengthened the hope i have in the Lord. Thank you so much for sharing it and please tell your daughter what i said and tell her thank you for writing it.

Thanks for sharing it is evident that you have been the father that has modeled the Father

amen, amen, and amen ...

Awesome Read!! May the Lord continue to work through you to minister to your family, as you prepare them for the battle that is everyday!!

Amen!!! That was awesome!!

Not sure how old your daughter is BOFF, but you are richly blessed. That is a great devotion, regardless of her age.

That was outstanding! Thanks for sharing and please thank her as well. You have apparently been a great example and should be very proud!

Amen. Great read. Very well done no matter how old. You should be proud

I think everbody's comments are spot on especially jwalkers.

I know your proud and thankful she is so spiritually mature and ready for the world we live in.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting, you must be very proud!!

Amen. That was outstanding.

Awesome! Amen