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Faith Imagined: Internet Cafe: Using our Filters

Faith Imagined

Alisa Hope Wagner: Christian Writer

May 4, 2010

Internet Cafe: Using our Filters

When my husband and I were first married, we lived in a tiny apartment. I could vacuum the entire house using one plug for the cord. My mom came to visit for a few days. She didn’t mind sleeping on the couch, but she did mind the lack of coffee supplies. She quickly went out to buy us a coffee pot, filters and coffee.

After my mom left, she sweetly left us the coffee pot for future visits. After a year in the tiny apartment, we upgraded to a bigger one. I brought the coffee pot and the filters along with us. We made coffee on rare occasions, and I was happy we were prepared.
When my husband and I finished schooling, we moved to another city for further training. As I packed the house for the move, I broke the coffee pot and decided to throw it away. However, I kept the coffee filters. There were a bunch of them, and I didn’t want to waste a perfectly usable product. So I put the filters in a plastic bag and packed them.

My husband and I moved into our first home. We were excited about the change and the new possibilities that came with it. Most of all, we were thrilled that we lived right next to a local coffee shop. I didn’t need to buy a coffee pot; and as the years went by, I completely forgot about the filters.

We moved one more time back to our hometown where my husband and I first met. As I was unpacking, I found the coffee filters. My husband must have tossed them into the box. I thought it was interesting that the filters had made it from our first home to our current home almost eight years later.

“What am I going to do with these filters?” I thought.

I kept them mainly for nostalgia’s sake. The filters were a sweet reminder of my marriage’s beginning. Finally back in our hometown, we joined a church and began to raise our growing family. A year later we started a church home group. My friend bought me a coffee pot for Christmas, and I started serving the much wanted coffee for my friends. I finally had a use for my coffee filters.

What I’ve come to understand is that God many times gives us coffee filters. He puts a desire, talent, promise or dream into our hearts way before we will ever use them. They just sit on the back burner, and we wonder why God ever gave us the passion in the first place.

But slowly, without us even realizing it, a need will come and we’ll finally get to do what God has called us to do. I don’t know why God places these dreams in our hearts so early, but I do know that we will greatly enjoy dedicating ourselves to those dreams when the time arrives…. I was excited to finally use my filters.

What about you? Has God given you a talent, dream, passion or promise that you haven’t been able to fulfill? Or have you finally been able to accomplish something that God anointed you for years in advance? Share your story with us, so we can be encouraged that God does finally let us use our filters.

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1.20 NIV).


You can also read it here Internet Cafe!


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13 Comments:

Blogger alicia said...

Yes!!! This makes so much sense and I thank you for sharing it! I trust in Him that someday I will need to use my own 'filters'

11:22 AM  
Blogger Randi Troxell said...

wonderful as always... you manage to always help me understand things that might otherwise fly over me!

12:36 PM  
Blogger Missie said...

sneaky! you get us hooked ;)

3:45 PM  
Blogger Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

So, what's your dream/talent or whatever that God gave you early on?

Mine is writing. I think he gave it to me early - before I even wanted to write for Him - so that I'd have time to hone my skills...and I'm still honing :)

5:07 PM  
Blogger Kelly L said...

Great analogy... My dream is to go into the mission field - I truly God is getting me ready.....

Love to you.
Kelly
Amazing Salvation

5:40 PM  
Blogger Warren Baldwin said...

Linked and read. Very good! I invited you to participate in Favorite Marriage Book series on Family Fountain if you would like. wb

10:49 PM  
Blogger Beth Herring said...

you have such a way of just drawing me in.

I love you sweet friend. You are such an inspiration.

11:05 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

You said it! A need will come, especially when we least expect it. God's just like that to shower down realization in ways like the coffee filters.

Great post!

12:52 AM  
Blogger Amy said...

Off to read the rest...

P.S. ~ LOVE the new picture of you one the sidebar!
Blessings,
Amy

12:22 PM  
Blogger Sharon said...

I loved this article... I commented on it on the other page. Thanks, dear friend, for visiting mine! I shall be back to browse yours either in a little while or at another time. I'm about to run out and can't (though would love to!) at the moment.

And hey, I noticed that you're a twin. Nice to meet you... I am too! :)

May God bless you royally and show Himself huge through you!
sharon

8:45 PM  
Blogger Melinda said...

Awesome post! And so timely. I have been thinking of this alot lately. God put a dream in my heart to write for Him years ago. I see him slowly bringing that dream to reality. But I've been examining the last few days ... what is propelling my perseverance and dedication to Him. Is it my dream or is it HIM? I pray that it will always be HIM, first and foremost.

10:14 AM  
Blogger Deborah said...

I love how God uses weird stuff to teach us a lesson or spotlight something in our lives. Great devotion.

10:53 PM  
Blogger kanishk said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

6:25 PM  

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