So what's the point of this post, it's not to do a how-to manual on the process, because honestly, I'm still in the process...but I can see freedom and healing in the distance. I've realized just in the last month that masks hide struggles for a season, but there is a place where you get to with God that the mask has to come off and the inside struggles come to surface. It's not because you feel like you have arrived, but you start to realize that keeping the duct tape over the cracks isn't doing anyone any good.
I had a list a mile long this afternoon when I got home this afternoon but wasn't feeling it. Sometimes we need to get still and just rest for a few. It's in rest that we can reflect and God can start to go it may not feel good, but I'm doing something. The last couple of months have been a journey, but the last couple of weeks I've had some struggle moments. This week especially. I found myself saying to God more than once...but I thought this was gone, or what happened, did I miss something. So many times we can get caught up in trying to figure out the details of the moment that we lose sight of that God is still doing and moving even when it may seem like we took a step backward. Chains leave marks when they finally come off, and sometimes when they have been on for awhile it can take some time for the healing to reach feeling. You know they aren't there anymore, but there are times it feels like it. It's okay... Thorns are only painful when they are being pulled at or moving. (That's a blog in itself).
When the nap is restorative, you know God's wanting you to pay attention. This week hasn't been perfect by any means. Honestly, there have been moments that I have had to breathe through to keep from crying or getting mad, moments where the tears took over, moments of doubt and loneliness, moments where sleep wasn't my friend and moments where frustrations bubbled up and out. Life happens and God knows exactly where we are at in the process. I think back to the healings in the Bible, once the people got to Jesus it only took a touch from Him to take care of the healing, but it was the getting to Him that was different for them all. Some laid and waited for Him to come to them. Some went out and searched for the one healing. The woman with the issue of blood had to push her way through the crowd to get to Jesus for hers. If she had let the crowd distract her would she have kept going?
For that one out there reading this tonight thinking well I'm not sure I'm even in the process yet. What's holding you back? The man that lay by the pool of Bethsaida waited for the waters to stir for years and kept missing his moment because of excuses. The process isn't an easy journey, but God's faithful each step of the way. There is peace to be had and that abundant life He promised. He longs to answer that cry of your heart for a deeper level with Him, but there's junk to be cleaned out first. Maybe you are thinking, well the mask fits me well and this wall is here for a reason. Yep, I've had that T-shirt too and will post about it in time. Hear my heart when I say this......God wants to start replacing lies with truth, but sometimes it takes pushing out a brick in that wall first. Fear will hold you back because you start to wonder if anyone will understand....that's up to God sweet reader. Oh, how we must make Him laugh sometimes when we try to tell Him all about our feelings and hearts when He's the one that made them. The first step to the process of healing is letting someone be Jesus with skin on...and letting them in on the inside. If you are that one being let in on the inside...listen and love them right where they are at. Don't just pray for them, pray with them....and most of all keep speaking life. Life isn't meant to be lived alone and two really are better than one.
I'll end on this...As dearly loved children of the Most High, we are clay in His potter hands. We see the cracks in our pots as messes and cover them with band-aids and duct tape, but He sees them as purpose. It's through those cracks, those thorns in our flesh, that He shines through. Those are the moments that make what we see as a mess into a message that brings Him honor and glory.
I had a list a mile long this afternoon when I got home this afternoon but wasn't feeling it. Sometimes we need to get still and just rest for a few. It's in rest that we can reflect and God can start to go it may not feel good, but I'm doing something. The last couple of months have been a journey, but the last couple of weeks I've had some struggle moments. This week especially. I found myself saying to God more than once...but I thought this was gone, or what happened, did I miss something. So many times we can get caught up in trying to figure out the details of the moment that we lose sight of that God is still doing and moving even when it may seem like we took a step backward. Chains leave marks when they finally come off, and sometimes when they have been on for awhile it can take some time for the healing to reach feeling. You know they aren't there anymore, but there are times it feels like it. It's okay... Thorns are only painful when they are being pulled at or moving. (That's a blog in itself).
When the nap is restorative, you know God's wanting you to pay attention. This week hasn't been perfect by any means. Honestly, there have been moments that I have had to breathe through to keep from crying or getting mad, moments where the tears took over, moments of doubt and loneliness, moments where sleep wasn't my friend and moments where frustrations bubbled up and out. Life happens and God knows exactly where we are at in the process. I think back to the healings in the Bible, once the people got to Jesus it only took a touch from Him to take care of the healing, but it was the getting to Him that was different for them all. Some laid and waited for Him to come to them. Some went out and searched for the one healing. The woman with the issue of blood had to push her way through the crowd to get to Jesus for hers. If she had let the crowd distract her would she have kept going?
For that one out there reading this tonight thinking well I'm not sure I'm even in the process yet. What's holding you back? The man that lay by the pool of Bethsaida waited for the waters to stir for years and kept missing his moment because of excuses. The process isn't an easy journey, but God's faithful each step of the way. There is peace to be had and that abundant life He promised. He longs to answer that cry of your heart for a deeper level with Him, but there's junk to be cleaned out first. Maybe you are thinking, well the mask fits me well and this wall is here for a reason. Yep, I've had that T-shirt too and will post about it in time. Hear my heart when I say this......God wants to start replacing lies with truth, but sometimes it takes pushing out a brick in that wall first. Fear will hold you back because you start to wonder if anyone will understand....that's up to God sweet reader. Oh, how we must make Him laugh sometimes when we try to tell Him all about our feelings and hearts when He's the one that made them. The first step to the process of healing is letting someone be Jesus with skin on...and letting them in on the inside. If you are that one being let in on the inside...listen and love them right where they are at. Don't just pray for them, pray with them....and most of all keep speaking life. Life isn't meant to be lived alone and two really are better than one.
I'll end on this...As dearly loved children of the Most High, we are clay in His potter hands. We see the cracks in our pots as messes and cover them with band-aids and duct tape, but He sees them as purpose. It's through those cracks, those thorns in our flesh, that He shines through. Those are the moments that make what we see as a mess into a message that brings Him honor and glory.
