What type of balloon are you?

One day this past week, weakness prevailed and stress mounted. The load God had called me to that day in serving others was difficult. Unfortunately, I didn’t handle it well. The next day, I read this in My Utmost for His Highest.

“Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.

Philippians 2:17
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=php+2:17&sr=1

Are you willing to be offered for the work of the faithful - to pour out your life blood as a libation on the sacrifice of the faith of others? Or do you say - “I am not going to be offered up just yet, I do not want God to choose my work. I want to choose the scenery of my own sacrifice; I want to have the right kind of people watching and saying, ‘Well done.’

It is one thing to go on the lonely way with dignified heroism, but quite another thing if the line mapped out for you by God means being a door-mat under other people’s feet. Suppose God wants to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased” - are you ready to be offered up like that? Are you ready to be not so much as a drop in a bucket - to be so hopelessly insignificant that you are never thought of again in connection with the life you served? Are you willing to spend and be spent; not seeking to be ministered unto, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work and remain saints because it is beneath their dignity.”

God worked in my heart and repentance came. A couple days later, came another hard day. But, that day, I had a song in my heart that kept spilling forth. I could not contain the joy in my heart. Stresses came and so did the joy. It was a pretty gruelling day with many challenges which left me in intense pain that night. Yet, the joy continued to overflow.

As I waited for sleep to come that night, God was speaking to my heart. I contemplated the difference between the two days and the example of a balloon came to mind. When pressure is put on a balloon that is full of air, it bursts easily. However, when pressure is put on a balloon that is not completely full of hot air, the balloon flexes easily and conforms to the pressure put on it.

The next morning, I was reading Luke 1:38 and was impressed by Mary’s attitude when God asked her to do an impossible task that would cause her to be rejected. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” She was a flexible, pliable balloon ready to be molded and conformed to the pressure that God allowed.

So, am I going to be a balloon full of hot air (myself) today that pops when pressures come? Or, will I be a balloon that is flexible and pliable and ready to conform to how God wants to work in my life? How about you?