Last week we watched as our oldest crossed the stage to receive his diploma from college. For our family, this moment was so much more than just a rite of passage, an academic accomplishment. For us, this was a moment of redemption.
It had been six years since we had seen him. That was certainly not our desire, but things happen along the way of life where the enemy gets a foothold of untruth. Where relationships are destroyed. Where there is no say, no control. Where all hope is lost, it seems. Lost, at least for a season.
But then God…
Breathes life into the deadest, driest places…
Binds and heals the deepest wounds…
Builds anew what seems permanently destroyed…
Blesses things that once felt cursed…
That’s just what He did in our lives and in our family. No, it didn’t happen overnight. Nor did it come tied in a pretty package with a pretty ribbon. Yet it still happened. It is still happening.
The more I get to know Jesus, the more I realize that is exactly what He is all about. He takes the ugliest of situations, the most beaten down of hearts and He buys them back. He’s not afraid of dirty, smelly situations. He seems quite at home with the impossible. He reaches down with His all-encompassing love and He claims them back from the clutches of the enemy.
That’s the love He has for you and me. Nothing is beyond His grasp. Nothing is beneath His watchful eye. Nothing is bigger than His grace and love to heal, redeem, restore. Nothing.
The Purpose of Waiting
We all have places in our lives where we have lost hope. Situations that are helplessly out of our control to manage, to fix, to do anything but watch as the world crumbles around us. We wonder if this relationship, this circumstance is too broken, too diseased, to ever be put back together again.
There is something purposeful about these seasons. We will either use these seasons wisely to prepare our hearts for God’s redemption, or we will remain stuck in our pain. It is easy to grow comfortable with our wounds. Tempting to ruminate in our resentment and resist letting go of our rights. Yet we can never heal as long as we’re holding onto hurt. We must choose.
[clickToTweet tweet="We can never heal as long as we’re holding onto hurt." quote="We can never heal as long as we’re holding onto hurt."]
Like the ten virgins (Matthew 25) who didn’t know when their Bridegroom was coming, we cannot foresee, nor can we foreknow when God will redeem our situation. We can’t. Our choice is whether we, like some of the virgins, are lazy with our healing and are caught off guard when the moment of redemption comes, or we will be prepared in our waiting so we can enjoy the wedding feast when that day arrives.
Waiting is never a passive posture. Waiting is an active decision to focus our energies on healing so we can be prepared for whatever lies ahead. It means we choose to release our pain and our plan to God. It means we simply learn to bring ourselves to the Healer to sit with Him while we are healed.
[clickToTweet tweet="Waiting means we release our pain and our plan to God." quote="Waiting means we release our pain and our plan to God."]
Somewhere in the yielding we recognize our utter helplessness and allow ourselves to grieve. Perhaps that is the purpose of waiting – to prepare our hearts to grieve, to heal, to grow, to make us ready for the moment everything comes full circle, for the arrival of His redemption.
In these last six years, I am not the same person. Had I not surrendered to the healing process, I would not have been ready for this miracle, this gift that stands before me today. I would still be carrying the bitterness of old wounds that had festered for years. I would be hardened and closed to see the miracle of redemption at work around me.
In my new book, Peace for a Lifetime, I share more about my story as well as offer ways we all can allow God to heal us, in whatever situation we face. We don’t have to stay stuck in our pain, we don’t have to allow resentment and bitterness to grow like a cancer in the depths of our hearts. We can do our part to prepare ourselves for the Bridegroom to come.
Click Here to learn more about Peace for a Lifetime!
Have you seen God at work in your impossible situations? Is your redemption still somewhere in the hidden years? What do you need to heal today in your heart?
Do not shut yourself off from healing. Do not close the door of your heart to hope. There is so much that you can do to prepare yourself for the day when God redeems that situation, that broken relationship with a loved one, that long-forgotten dream.
Tend to your healing. Grieve. Pray. Invest yourself in what relationships and ministries God is calling you to. Don’t delay. His redemption is coming.
Blessings,
Lisa
About Lisa
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, author, coffee lover, and wife. My hope is to provide a compassionate place in the midst of the stresses and struggles of life. At heart, I am just a Southern girl who loves beautiful things, whether it is the beauty of words found in a deeply moving story, the beauty of a meal cooked with love, the beauty of a cup of coffee with a friend, or the beauty seen in far away landscapes and cultures. I have fallen passionately in love with the journey and believe it is among the most beautiful gifts to embrace and celebrate. While I grew up in the Florida sunshine, I now live just outside Nashville in Franklin, TN with my husband and Shih-tzu, Sophie.
About Peace for a Lifetime
In my new book, Peace for a Lifetime, I share the keys to cultivating a life that’s deeply rooted, overflowing, and abundant, the fruit of which is peace. Through personal and professional experience as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, I have discovered how to take the broken pieces of life and find indestructible peace with myself, God and with others. Through my story and other’s stories you’ll realize that you can experience the life for which you long. You can experience abundance beyond anything you can imagine. You can experience peace, not just for today, not just for tomorrow. You can experience peace —for a lifetime!
Peace for a Lifetime is available on Amazon.com.
I’d love to connect on Facebook: Lisa Murray, author
Book Trailer: https://vimeo.com/155392891
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