Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts

Please read the below blog entry first. But here is another song about hope by Sara Groves that I love!!!
-----------------------------------

It Might Be Hope, Sara Groves

This song by Sara Groves deeply resonates with my heart! This past week, I was talking with a friend and I took a moment to reflect on the last several years of my life. You all who've been on this journey with me can attest to the roller coaster it's been (I'm learning that life is one big roller coaster!). Seasons of shock, grief, anger, peace, hope, joy, etc. etc. have rolled in and out, but if I could recap the main seasons it would be these: Grief, Healing, Hope.

The below song (the song that's playing now) perfectly describes the state of my heart. Over a year ago, I had faith that my heart would heal and that I'd have renewed hope, but I didn't know when it would actually happen or what I'd feel like. Now, my faith has turned to experience! I know it's taken time and healing is a process, but I can confidently say that my heart has climbed the mountain of grief and lies on the other side of it!!! Hope, trust, and faith have been restored and renewed. Like this song says, "Thank you, Lord!" And thank you to my friends and family--I would not be able to celebrate this without you!

So, here are the lyrics for ya...
---------------------------------

Something Changed, Sara Groves
Something changed inside me broke wide open all spilled out
Till I had no doubt that something changed

Never would have believed it till I felt it in my own heart
In the deepest part the healing came

And I cannot make it
And I cannot fake it
And I can't afford it
But it's mine

Something so amazing in a heart so dark and dim
When a wall falls down and the light comes in

And I cannot make it
And I cannot fake it
And I can't afford it
But it's mine

I'm in the middle of reading "The Shack" by William P. Young and have been deeply touched by a couple of quotes and, as a whole, the dynamic and beautiful relationships portrayed in this book have widened my heart and mind to the sweet intimacy we can and do have with the Creator, Savior, and Spirit of God. I don't want to give anything away, so I'm keeping my thoughts pretty general and won't post "spoiling" quotes, in case you haven't read the book yet. So, the following two quotes have been taken from "The Shack"...

"Honey, there's no easy answer that will take your pain away. Believe me, if I had one, I'd use it now. I have no magic wand to wave over you and make it all better. Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship." (page 92)

"Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly. And if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place." (page 97)

Man, that last quote there really hits home!!! I hope I don't sound like a broken record to those who've been on this journey with me the past several years, but to be honest, because of the pain I've experienced from the unsettling and unexpected events in my life, I do feel like my "wings have been clipped." And I'm afraid of them growing back to the point where I can "fly" again for fear I'll be smacked again, wings clipped, and down I fall.

Needless to say, my trust in God's plan for my life isn't quite as solid as it used to be. That's a sad thing to admit, I know. But I also know that God knows where my heart is and He has and is going to continue nurturing me, mending the places that have been broken, and restoring my wings at a speed that's not too slow and not too quick. His timing is best and I'm grateful that He is patient, compassionate and tender.

Last Thursday at a church service, the speaker focused on a portion of Isaiah 53, and a couple of verses definitely popped out at me. To give you a bit of back-story, I was having a difficult couple of days last week as I heavily reflected on the last couple of years of my life and all that has transpired. I started to feel really sad and heavy hearted again. I asked questions like, "Why did that have to happen?" "How could things have turned out this way?" etc. etc. Thankfully, days like these have become fewer and farther apart from one another which is such a testimony to God's healing!!! (Yay, God!)

So, back to Isaiah 53! A portion of verses 3 and 4 gave me such comfort and truly renewed my strength: "He (Jesus) was despised by others, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain...Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering..." Wow! I don't quite know how to put it into words, but reading those words and letting them seep deeper into my heart felt like a warm, snuggly blanket that made me feel safe, cared for, and comforted. Jesus experienced pain (the worst pain of all). I am not alone. I am not expected to carry the pains that I feel on the weight of my own shoulders, but I can give them to Him and He will carry them for me! "Cast your cares upon the Lord for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

So, I had my sad day, but I shared it with the Lord and some trusted friends...I cried, I talked about it, I heard a great message of truth, and experienced God's comfort. Yay!

God's love is enough...

"Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. You are precious in my eyes, because you are honored and I love you...the mountains may depart, the hills may be shaken, but my love for you will never leave you and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken." Isaiah 43:1, 4; 54:10

Dear Friends,

I don't know who or if anyone stops by and reads this blog, but if you do and you've ever been through a very difficult challenge, or maybe you're going through one right now, I think you'll be blessed by the below quote--I was brought to tears.

One of my dear friends just had their second baby and have found out some very difficult news about the health of their new little one. She may have mental retardation and continued physical challenges. What they once thought their lives would be like has been drastically altered. Though, of course, they love her just the same, the reality of their new lives brings tremendous sadness and burden.

They have set up a blog to keep us updated and welcome encouragement through posts. The below quote is one of the posts. Though it talks about having a baby...it seriously can be applied to any of life's challenges...and let me tell you: life is full of them! :)


Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to help people who have not shared this unique experience, to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.

It's like this.

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans. The Coliseum. Michelangelo David. The Gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean, Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around. And you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. And Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy. And they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there.

And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain will never, ever go away. Because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things. About Holland.

"When God desires to create more power in your life, He creates more friction. He uses this pressure to generate spiritual power. Some people cannot handle it, and run from the pressure instead of receiving the power and using it to rise above the painful experience that produced it." -Excerpt from Streams in the Desert, April 9.

"And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him." -1 Chronicles 11:9.

I received this very nice email from a friend of mine yesterday. It made my day...

"I just wanted to let you know that even when you're just arranging files that God is pleased with you...sometimes life is upside down and east is right and up is black but i am happy to say i am very glad to know you!!!"

This quote really resonated with me today...

"We never completely recover from our greatest griefs and are never exactly the same after having passed through them. Yet sorrow that is endured in the right spirit impacts our growth favorably and brings us a greater sense of compassion for others." -J.R. Miller, excerpt from Streams in the Desert, March 11 entry