Super Capacity Plus

Several Fridays ago, for no apparent reason, my shoulder began to hurt.  Hurt is an understatement.  If there was a pain chart, the pain would have been off of it.  I cried.  Then, the laundry came.

My children, who rarely ever care to do so, were suddenly inspired to change their sheets.  Not just their sheets, but their comforters, too.  I could barely open my arm enough to apply deodorant and I was suddenly staring down the barrel of 4-5 loads of bedding.  Plus, I had been inclined to do some spring cleaning the week prior and therefore let the laundry fall by the wayside.  Ten loads of laundry all together.  Probably.  And I couldn’t raise my arm to save my life let alone do 10 loads of laundry.  Yes, my children do help with the laundry, but at the time, they were helping spring clean other areas of the house.

After a very hot shower Saturday night and a massage with liniment following, I felt considerable better by Sunday morning…at least compared to Friday.  A friend from church laid a hand on my shoulder and prayed for me during meet and greet.  We both felt the heat of the Holy Spirit while she prayed.  Was I 100%?  No.  But by the time I saw the doctor on Tuesday to see whether I should rest it or exercise it (as I got conflicting reports as to how to speed up the healing process), my shoulder was feeling pretty good.  Sore, weak, but for the most part, pretty good.

Thursday following was to be a gorgeous day, so said the forecasters.  Prime time for clothes hanging.  I had contemplated dragging the bedding to a nearby laundromat then bring it home to dry.  I didn’t know if my washer could handle the comforters and survive.  I scowled as I thought of a trip to town, coins, time away from doing other chores that had fallen by the wayside…and my shoulder which was still slightly sore and weak, but so much better.  Thank You, Jesus!  I stared at the baskets, hampers, and overall mass of dirty clothes and debated.

I found a tag on what I thought was the largest comforter.  I read the instructions and found that it should be washed in a “large capacity washer”.  Something tripped through my memory.  I scoured the writing all over the underside of my washer lid and then pulled it down to read the fine print written around and underneath the knobs.  And there it was:  “Super Capacity Plus”.  Not just “Super Capacity”, no, “Super Capacity Plus“.  The comforters were hung and 4 loads of laundry, easily and quickly followed.

Think about this: God is not a large capacity God.  He isn’t even a super capacity plus God.  He is an endless, bottomless, measureless, God.  Need salvation, deliverance, healing, wholeness, prosperity?  Done!  He’s got it.  And He’s got enough for you, me, the entirety of all mankind, pressed down, shaken together, running over.  I’m telling you, eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has any of our minds been able to imagine what God has prepared for those of us who love Him (2 Cor. 2:9; Is. 64:4).  We can’t conceive it.  We get glimpses.  Sometimes we get a torrential downpour.  But we can’t contain it all.  We can’t contain Him all.  Nor should we want to.

I want a God that’s bigger than me.  I want a God Who thinks outside of the box, performs radical miracles, and does unbelievable stuff.  Is this the kind of God that we serve?  Or have we unknowingly set up perimeters due to unmet expectations and unanswered prayers?  Let’s take time today to ask God if we have unwittingly placed restrictions on Him and ask Him to invade those places.  Life’s too short to serve a god that can be confined.

I hope you enjoy this timeless song by Rich Mullins.

“I will be great.  My Name will be made great.  I will be lifted up.  You have been looking for My hand.  You forget that I Am awesome, mighty, and wonderful.  I have not forgotten you.  My eyes and My hand are still upon you and your land.  I will be exalted.  I will be exalted.  I will be exalted.  Whosoever will let Me work in them and in their land I will do mighty, fierce, and wondrous things.  I will be exalted.“  ~God