A most unusual coffee house

For the length of about two months my bedroom became my coffee house. No, really.

I am sure you are wondering what I mean by that. Let me explain.

Some time ago I was handed a piece of paper and there, in black and white, was written all these things about me that were "wrong." And it threw me. So my home became my refuge and my bedroom became my coffee house. And it was there that I handed God the piece of paper and said, "Really?"

My brother works at Starbucks and he gets a pound of coffee a week. So he would send me his pounds when I needed a fix. I went through a lot of coffee in that couple of months. I would brew up a pot after dropping my girls off at school and retreat to my bedroom. Why my bedroom? It's where I began to feel the safest. We have a big king size bed, I would just lay there and spread out my books and my journal and my Bible and just allow God to say whatever he wanted to. So my bedroom became my coffee house for a season.

The interesting thing about this piece of paper that so "definitively" defined me is that it ended up being the very thing that got me out of my bedroom and into life again. I took each point and I gave it to God and I asked him to tell me if any of it were true. And he was faithful to do just that. I would drink my coffee, journal my hurt, read what he had to say from his Word and discover who I really was in him. Ephesians 2:10 says that I am a masterpiece, created by him and for him to do good things. I already knew that but someone else tried to take that away from me. So God reminded me. He created me and I do good things for him.

Several places in the Bible point to the gifts that God gives each of his creation. I'm not talking about gifts of the material persuasion, I'm talking about gifts that last. Gifts that are built into the very fiber of who we are. Some of the gifts God specifically mentions are things like serving, teaching, encouraging, helping, generosity, leadership, mercy (Romans 12). The question is, if God gives me the gift what will I do with it? I could abuse it. Or I could use it. The choice is mine. I discovered something at my home coffee house. I use my gifts well. What was said about me out of confidence was really said out of cowardice - it was said out of issues that have nothing to do with me. And once God showed me that I began to heal and to rest.

I have moved out of my bedroom coffee house and back into life. However, I have managed to carve out some bedroom coffee house time for myself each morning before the rest of my world wakes up. After all, it's HIS black and white list that counts in the end.