"I AM shaking everything that can be shaken," says the Voice. "And the shaking and purifying begins with you - with My Body.
"I AM cleaning My house. It has been defiled by unclean spirits that have no place in Me. Now, child, look inward and confess the sin that has separated us. Then go into My House and scrub. Look in corners, where little black molecules of lies and deceit and distraction tried to hide. Scrub, child! Sing as you clean. Praise Me in everything - even that which has disappointed and fallen short of your expectations. The disappointments, even the deceptions are My rod that corrects, teaches, draws you closer and closer to Me.
"Suddenly you see! Your spiritual eyes flutter open to all the fresh, new possibilities! Your nostrils begin to pick up the fragrance of myrrh as I embalm and bury the past.
"Now pick up your alabaster box and pour that oil all over My feet - a sacrifice of what you thought could be and then wasn't. Do you trust Me to re-fashion it, re-define it, mold it into MY perfect vision?"It is not a moving forward, child; it is a moving back - all the way back to the very beginning of My Church, my glorious Body aflame with radical faith and passion, willing to cast aside desire for everything but Me, willing to die for Me.
"You are clay on My wheel now. It is My joy to spin you and re-form you and show you how to reach all the way back into that pure faith of long ago. Therefore do not lose heart. Though outwardly you are wasting away, yet inwardly you are being renewed day by day. For your light and momentary troubles are achieving for you eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
"Do not despise or miss the lessons, dear one. My lessons strengthen weak and feeble knees and infuse hearts with boldness and courage.There, can you smell the fragrance now? Burned flesh oozed into burial oil, suddenly bursting into a hint of lavender - a fresh, spring scent of all that is about to emerge - a resurrection of the original vision I carved upon your heart: A DOOR OF HOPE IN THE VALLEY OF TROUBLE. I AM the Door. I AM the Way. I AM the Truth. I AM Life - Life to the full! I AM here.
