Raw

When I was little I loved playing house with my Cabbage Patch Dolls (Shout out to my favorites: Lyle..a red headed bathtime baby, Xena...a premature, bald headed baby, and Sheldon... an African American baby that I dressed in a tuxedo). That is the beginning and ending of the typical girl-y things I partook in as a child. I refused to put on a dress till I was in 5th grade, I asked for race cars for Christmas, and I loved going hunting with my dad.

On weekend hunting trips with my father I would sit up in the deer blinds for hours looking for deer (or as my dad initmately titled them, "The Infamous Whitetail Buck"). My job was to silently indicate that I spotted a deer by gently nudging or gesturing. Then Dad would quietly lift up his rifle, aim, and hopefully kill the deer (if you're grossed out, keep reading...I promise there is a point). When he succeeded in hitting his target, we would load up in his truck, drive to where the animal fell, and haul it back to camp. From there the deer had to have it's flesh and insides removed, and I have many vivid memories of watching deer be gutted and skinned. To skin the deer my dad would hang it by it's hind legs, and remove it's skin until all that remained was raw meat.

**Allow me to pause for a moment to enter a disclaimer: 1) I now know that this is something I am supposed to be disgusted by, and 2) this is not something that most girls partook in as children. However, it seemed normal before I was issued my Dallas-ite card. Please continue...**

My prayer tonight was that the Lord would strip me of all my selfish control, ideas, plans, pride, etc. The word raw kept coming to mind. So, I prayed that God would strip away all of my flesh until I was left completely raw. As I prayed, God illustrated it with memories of hunting with Dad. I could once again see the animal hanging helplessly, stripped of all of it's outer skin until only rawness remained.

After this hunting entry 90% of you will never read my blog again, but before you log off recall what Romans 6:6-8 says,

" We know that our old self was crucifed with him in ordert hat the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."

So if you are in Christ, dying to yourself and asking him to strip you of your flesh is actually a beautiful thing. Obviously death to our fleshly desires doesn't come easy or feel natural, but be encouraged that we are promised to LIVE WITH HIM (v.8). For me to attempt to capture that hope of life with Him in words wouldn't do it justice, so just allow the promise to sink in, resonate with your soul, and produce worship.

FYI: If you think that I am inhuman for hunting or have a crazy belief that animals will go to Heaven , you'll be happy to know that I no longer consider hunting a hobby. However, thank God my dad still does so that we can forever enjoy the delicious meals his cruelty produces :).