Hollywood Smile

Some of my friends from church went stateside for the Christmas/New Year season...
I asked one of them to bring me back some teeth whitening stuff.
Freya came back from New Zealand in early december with a very brilliant smile.
I guess I wanted one too.
I like to smile.
I guess I got conscious of the coffee stained state of my teeth...

So
Sunday night was when I got given my gift!
I gave my friend the money and when I got home, the process began!
What it is, is 2 strips of gel coated stuff that you pretty much mould to your teeth and leave for 30 minutes twice a day.
By Monday night I could see some improvement!
Exciting.
On Tuesday I had the revelation of the hollywood smile.
Check this out!
(I hope I do a better job explaining it here than when I tried to explain it to Freya yesterday!)

So
I bought the kit with the knowledge of what it was going to do. I wanted white teeth.
Every day I go through a process.
It's pretty intense and my gums and teeth are officially sensitive!
On tuesday I pointed out that some teeth were already really white and some were still stained and I wanted to know if that meant that the gel wasn't working and if i'd just wasted money...
Freya, very wisely, pointed out that teeth are all stained to different degrees and while some will be cleaned really fast, some are deeper and take longer.

Do you see wher e I'm going with this?!

To me this process has reminded me and given me fresh revelation of Freedom and Healing.

When we give our hearts to Jesus, His promise is like that of my teeth whitening kit. He promises to make us white as snow and pure and holy before Him.
And we are.
Sometimes there's a process though.
Some things are instantaneously made white and clean... But for other things, its a work in progress...
And sometimes in those times of purification and refining - it freaking hurts. Like woah.
We can sometimes be more sensitive.
And an interesting thought is too that sometimes we don't notice the state of our teeth (or hearts) until we spend time with others who have really beautiful smiles... or hearts...


Jesus promises that He won't leave us half done. He won't leave us half clean and half dirty... He says that He promises to see what He has started through to completion...

But just like I didn't just buy the kit and automatically have a brilliantly white smile, we can't assume that by giving our hearts to Christ that everything will be smooth running. It will not. Trust me.
I guess in some ways there's a price for freedom.
You. Me.
Us.
Jesus wants our everything.
And just like everyday I have to put these mould thingies on my teeth... I have to put them on for myself and only then will I see result!
The kit says to do it for 7 days.
But if I don't follow the guidelines/instructions that come with the kit... After 7 days, if I've just left the kit in a drawer untouched, I will have exactly the same smile as I had before.

James 4:8 in the Amplified Bible says:

8Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

It says "Come close to God and He will come close to you."
Another version says "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

We have to take steps too.

Let's.
Let's see change.
We have to make change to see change.
Let's delight ourselves in the ways of The King.
How do we know what they are? Well, by spending time in His presence.
Prayer Changes Things.
Really.

An interesting quote that I read yesterday:

If you want to know where your heart is,
look where your mind goes when it wanders.

Let's choose holiness.
Let's choose grace.
Let's choose freedom.
Let's choose truth.
Let's choose Love.
Let's choose purity.