PRUNED IF YOU DO- PRUNED IF YOU DON'T

PRUNED IF YOU DO- PRUNED IF YOU DON'T

One of my favorite, peaceful places in the morning with my wake up cup of coffee is my front porch. It's nicely shaded with a comfortable place to sit.  The plantings have taken off to where the blooms are something to behold.  One of the contributing elements to the porch is the beautiful Rose of Sharon bush. However, when we bought the house, due to neglect from no one living here, it was out of control and badly in need of a major pruning. With pruning shears in hand, I aggressively undertook the task of lopping off branches which I judged were going to impede the look and desires we had for the curb appeal of our home. Thinking that task would keep it at a nice height and girth I realized all too quickly it was going to need another major pruning! I heartily undertook that task yet once more.


My view from the front porch has always been comforting as I look around at my neighbors' homes, greet passers-by and engage in friendly conversation with those whom we now know and have already grown to love. Along with enjoying my neighbors, I thoroughly delight in the vivid pink and purple petals that grace my view from that favorite seat. As those flowers sway in the welcome breeze I occasionally catch a hint of fragrance from the more pungent blossoms.


I realized this morning, however, that without notice, my peace had been subtly interrupted by that very Rose of Sharon that initially contributed graciously to the setting of my porch sanctuary.  The heavy pruning performed earlier took scraggly sticks of an untamed eyesore and transformed it into a healthy, thick, and profuse bloomer, which up until now I have thoroughly enjoyed. The growth has been so rapid and dense that it's now totally obstructing my view and enjoyment of other things.


As I pondered this, I received a revelation from God on how, when He prunes us, we must guard our hearts or we will take that actual growth that occurs from the cutting away of what must go and quickly become overbearing in the new "us" that emerges. As lovely as we think we are or as others think we are, we can overshadow and overtake others who are blooming as well.  Those others are serving a meaningful purpose as well but which no one can see now because we are in the way. When this happens, God has to prune us again. So even things which may appear as being absolutely gorgeous are going to have to go because they are obstructing a fuller purpose in which we are meant to flow together as one; each contributing to the big picture.


Look how overbearing this beautiful bush looks with my front porch… 

And look what's totally hidden by the obstruction that beauty is creating!

With the third pruning since April, I had to cut away less than I wanted to because it would not be able to bear up under the severity of taking too much off at once and would not be able to withstand the intensity of this season. (God's mercy on us!)  However...very soon...more pruning is in the plan for this beauty! (God's grace on us!)

"He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more."  John 15:2


Lord, help us bear the pruning process and stay right before You in the process and aftermath.  Help us not to think more highly of ourselves than we should and to put others first, thinking of them more often and ourselves less often.  Holy Spirit...convict our hearts when we are overbearing and overshadowing someone else; when we are actually hindering the progress of someone else or stepping in areas where they belong.  Amen

ABUNDANCE...

Yet another glorious day of Spring, I set about my daily chore of watering my small but pleasant garden.  Albeit much less than what I was used to with a previous property I owned, this still satisfied my soul to look at the beauty of each petal which has been hand crafted by our Father in Heaven.  In “stopping to smell the flowers” I noticed upon close inspection, that my impatiens have natural glitter!  Oh, how I love sparkle!  :) 

As I drug my heavy hose along with me and continued on to the larger pots placed on either side of the garage door for a stately adornment, I observed the potato vines planted over a month previously were still stunted with sickly brown leaves.  I had tenderly cared for them with great patience, watering faithfully and feeding with a product promised to produce abundant foliage and flowering.  Everything else had taken off with a vibrant display, yet these potato vines refused to obey and thrive.  Usually they are some of the first to adjust to being set free from their tiny, plastic, seedling pot and will spread and send full leaves and vines everywhere into the spaces they are given to fill, even spilling over to other areas.  However, these stubborn vines rebelled and declined to show their gratitude for freedom!  I was beginning to get to the end of my patience with them [ impatiens ;) ]  and even spoke, “If you don’t get going, I’m gonna’ pluck you out of these pots!”  Another week, and still I was pulling off the sickly looking, brown, stunted leaves.  I finally had enough and began looking for replacements.  However, I was set on potato vines and none were to be found except for one store which had them overpriced to the extent I wasn’t willing to pay.  I decided to replace with something else and again spoke to those vines, “I’m plucking you out tomorrow!”  Tomorrow came and went as well as the following day.  With all my busyness, I did not get to the destructive project promised.  Another couple of days flew by and the next time I noted those vines, I saw the beginnings of actual healthy growth, enough of which to cause me to pause and not pluck.  A few more days, and I had beautiful potato vines worthy of my admiration!  Thank goodness I didn’t pluck them out!  In my impatience at not seeing what I wanted to see when I wanted to see it, I would have destroyed a fantastic work in progress.  

Thoroughly enjoying the watering project now and not despising any once uncooperative plants, I smiled every time I watered.  I began to notice a trail of vines cascading over the pot and traveling down the driveway.  At first, I thought I would cut that extra portion off but my hubs thought it was cool, so I left it as a border.  It continued to grow at a swift rate…actually more than I really wanted.  Now I had to deal with daily retraining it because it wanted to creep over into the garden of flowers and cover them up.

In our love for the outdoors, we enjoy watching the local wildlife, one of which is bunnies…everywhere!  These precious cotton tails are the very reason I don’t put my petunias in the ground.  I’ve learned the hard way that I would have a glorious display one day, gone the next, as they would nibble them down to nubbins and I would be left with a mulch bed with no color.   

We have one sweet little bunny who loves to sleep in our front garden bed.  We’ve awakened him and watched him stretch out his legs as we go about our tasks with our yard.  He stays close enough by us that we marvel at his apparent lack of fear.  Something else we noticed about this sweet little Peter cottontail is that he is more than satisfied feasting on our trailing potato vines of what he must consider a delicacy!  He is devouring right down to sticks the portion of the potato vine that extends past the pot and streams down the driveway.  Out of our abundance, he is being satisfied to the full.  This gave me a greater picture of what God means when He gives us abundance.   

Abundance from God’s grace and favor is more than we need or want* and it is for the purposes of meeting another’s needs.  It’s not so that we can just bathe in waste, but so we can give to others.  

Abundance, according to dictionary.com is: an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply; overflowing fullness; affluence; wealth. 

Sometimes God has us give even when it appears we have lack and that it will destroy us to give.  If that is the case and God is saying to give up even that last portion, He is setting us up to receive wonderful provision.  Mark 12:44 tells of the widow who gave out of her poverty while others gave out of their wealth.  This is precious to God and there will be times He will direct us to give even if it appears we don’t have anything to give.  Another widow, in 1 Kings 17, gave out of the last portion she had in order to meet the need of God’s servant.  Prior to her giving, she was preparing her son and herself to die due to lack, but God came just in time to save them and bless them with provision and life.

If we have abundance, which can be in finances, time, spiritual gifts, material possessions, etc., we definitely need to be seeking God about where that is to go.  If we have lack, we need to seek God about what we can “sow” in order to reap a harvest of what we need.  If we have surrendered our hearts and all our lives and “things” to God for Him to be Lord over, He will show us, by tugging at our hearts, what we are to give in order to meet someone else’s need.  It truly is more blessed to give than receive because God is setting us up to gain so much more back from Him in ways that will bless us far beyond what we gave up ever could have.

Abundance from the hand of God comes in His ways and in His timing.  It takes time for Him to grow what we have in our lives and transform it into a lovely provision far beyond what we need for ourselves.

Prayer:

Father, thank You that You are our Provider.  Thank You that all our times are in Your hands and help us to be patient in Your transforming work, trusting that You will provide.  Thank You, Jesus, that You came to destroy the works of the enemy in our lives and to give us abundant life, (John 10:10).  We surrender all we are and all we have to You to be Lord over.  Show us what You want to do through us and how You want to bless others through us.  Help us to let go and trust You with the outcome.  Amen

And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]. 2 Cor. 9:8 AMP

 

*This "want" is not carte blanche of whatever carnal "want" we have but is derived from legitimate relationship with Him, yielded to Him so our hearts are in union with His desires.  He does love to prosper and bless us, but not have us be harmed by what He gives us, "The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it" Proverbs 10:22.

Am I Wanted?

Yesterday, I had a tough conversation with my aged mother.  I was prompted to give her a call and ask a very difficult question which I had to develop tenderly so as not to offend or put her on guard.  I had to ask her if I was wanted…

During prayer time, I kept feeling that all too familiar sense of a dark place deep in my soul trying to rise up again to distract and crush me; that sad one that evokes a sense of being alone even when I’m truly not alone.  It creates a self focus that is unhealthy.  Wanting no more to do with that place I cried out to God, “What is this?”  I felt Him say I had to be willing to look squarely at it; however ugly it may be.  I took a breath for courage and said, “Yes.”  I then felt compelled to call my mother.

Her raspy, “Hello,” with the tell-tale sounds of 83 years on this earth greeted me.  I made a very conscious effort to construct my question carefully so as not to put her off but encourage an honest answer.  Truth has escaped some dialogue with my mom in her effort to at times, create her own safe haven of unreality which she has accepted as truth, as it is the place she feels most comfortable and unthreatened.

I began to develop the reason for my call stating I had to ask her a very difficult question but that I needed her to be honest.  I promised that I would not take offense to her answer as I totally understand how we do our best in every stage of life with what we have been dealt and with how we are equipped at the time.  I shared that I would have handled some things in my life differently had I known then what I know now.  I then checked myself to brace and keep my promise of no offense or hurt regardless of what I heard and asked her, “Mom, when you found out you were pregnant with me, did you want me, or when I was a small child was I wanted?”   

I must admit that I am astounded that I still need any reassurance or deliverance in this area at all because the Lord has had time to deliver me of much from my childhood. I can only express that we each are like an onion, layer upon layer of stinky stuff that just has to continually be pealed until the very core is reached.  We have victory at each level and then the Lord begins pealing off more, continuously stretching us and revealing hidden things we didn't know existed until He prepares our hearts to be able to look.

She cleared her throat and asked me why I was asking her such a thing.  Those tears of deliverance that had begun earlier in prayer time with my Father, reappeared and began to pour out as I tried to express my heart’s ache; that I just have a sense of being alone a lot in childhood.  My memories are that I was never told, “I love you, Kim,” until much later in life after formative years had passed.  I had no memory of being held, cuddled, and bundled up in arms that can’t seem to get enough of you like I did with my children and now with my darling grandchildren. 

I expected her to try to make excuses for why she didn’t want to be pregnant or have a second child.  After all, I would have understood the overwhelm she must have felt with a husband who was absent and emotionally unavailable.  I would have understood the shame and torment of dealing with an alcoholic in that same man. I would have felt confirmed in my belief of her that she just really wasn’t a woman who wanted children but was a career woman instead.  But what I heard coming out of her mouth was to the contrary.  She stated she did in fact want me and that she was happy to be pregnant again after the four year break between my brother and me.  She was especially excited to now have a girl since she already had a boy. 

Something didn’t resonate because if that was the truth then why did I have the memory of childhood which I have battled and vowed to NEVER instill in my own children’s lives?  I was determined that I would be a loving, nurturing mother; that my children would NEVER feel alone or unwanted;  that they would not only have my arms wrapped around them, but my lips would smother them in kisses and speak affirming words of love continuously.  As their tiny lives developed, they would be secure in the knowledge of my love and adoration for them.  

I had to admit, I felt a bit disappointed in her stance which denied what I have felt all my life.  Now I was confused.  How, if she truly wanted me, could my emotional development have been so unhealthy with insecurity, disappointment, frustration, self pity and self-blame?  As I silently asked my Father in heaven, “What now,” I sensed that I was to be still and the answer would begin to pour out of her mouth like the tears poured from my eyes moments earlier.

In her own searching of why I would ask such a thing, she began to share what life from her perspective was like in her marriage to my father.  Again, I checked my emotions and judgment at the door of the Lord’s heart, to help me remain neutral and supportive of her in order to provide a safe place for her so she could speak freely.  

To my surprise, which created a new found empathy for my mom, I heard her tell of stories of verbal and physical abuse by my father, one such event sending her to the hospital with the loss of her hearing due to a blow to the head.  I heard of my father’s intimidation to force her to sign documents creating business deals which ended badly even resulting in the loss of our house.

Her walls of self preservation came tumbling down as, for the next hour, I heard her recounting days of her own childhood in which her parents were harsh with her and that she never remembers being told, “I love you”.  She couldn’t remember feeling loved with the affection parents should bestow on their children to give them a sense of security in the love that we all need to develop soundly.  She made the same vow I had voiced myself, “I will never be like my parents.” 

My eyes widened at that because she was in fact just like them!  With such a heart posture, how then did she emulate the very same thing in my life?  I did not confess what was on my mind and pressed my lips together tightly so I wouldn’t spew what was trying so desperately to come forth from my own mouth.  I continued to listen and she continued to reveal stories I have never heard and which would have died with her when she is called home, if not shared.

She confessed that she remembered only one time she felt such love for all of us that it gave her hope that we could be a real family.  There it was…what I suspected all along…as I also only remember one time of “feeling” that gush of overwhelming love that feels like warm liquid running through your entire being, including the deepest places where love resides.  If she was only cognoscente of feeling that love once, then she was lacking the love for family which is normal and healthy.  I know this because I experience that amazing love too many times to count for my husband, children and grandchildren.  That’s not to say you always, “feel” love, because let’s be honest, there are times you don’t feel anything but disgust, anger, hopelessness, heart ache, but you still know that you love your family member.  There are times that true love must kick in until the storm or trial passes and you feel love again.  There are times we just have to be patient, kind, not easily offended or envious, and not counter what just hurt us with more evil or rudeness.  I have clung to the familiar wedding passage from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 many times when my “feelings” of love were snatched away for a time.  Sometimes I am successful with this love walk but sometimes I fail miserably.

Mom then proceeded to tell me of my father’s childhood.  My grandfather, whom I never knew due to a heart attack before I was born, was harsh with his words.  Living on a farm, Dad felt alone and headed for the city at his first opportunity to escape what he despised.   She then informed me Dad was terribly insecure.  Even though I had heard shocking details throughout this conversation, this was the most I was stunned and my jaw dropped with my mouth gaping open for what seemed an eternity as her words reverberated over and over in my mind.  I NEVER perceived my father as insecure.  As a child, I deceptively saw him as strong with the false empowerment of alcohol, and then later, upon sobering up and accepting Jesus to save, heal and deliver him, I knew him to be strong but in a gentle and self controlled manner.  Mom continued with recounts of his struggles to be a successful business man and the power he actually did possess in the Kansas City market area.  This was only to be for a season as the empire he built come crashing down to bad deals and dealings with bad people.

I don't know if those stories are true or not, as I have heard much in the past which wasn't, but it still softened my heart toward her as her perception is her reality. 

In this time with my mom she gave me the confirmation I needed to know I wasn’t conjuring up false memories of feeling alone and unloved.  There was legitimate reason for the enemy of insecurity of which I have battled to have entrance into our lives.  I was a product of generational curses.  Only God knows how much has been repeated in the blood lines of my parents.  In the beauty of my Lord, however, upon my vow that I would not be like my mom in how I parented my children, my Lord gave me the gift of grace which would be all the empowerment I would need; sufficient to overcome my childhood and become the parent my children needed.  It was my choice to receive that grace and run with it and I thank Him that I did.  The Lord was my model parent since I had no such knowledge of how to do that.  I haven't been the perfect parent, because no such being exists, with the exception of Father God.  He gave me an ear to hear His wisdom for specific instruction with each child so they could grow up safely and knowing Him, which is the most important gift and responsibility we have as parents.  In this, they will be able to carry on walking with the One who is Life in their own garden of life. 

It was time for the call to end.  I assured my mom of my love for her, and hung up to the sound of her tears which earlier had poured from me.  My heart is tender now for my mom.  How much easier it is to understand why people are the way they are once we have the answer as to why they are the way they are!

I finished my private time with my Lord to allow Him to purge the past and help me to just let it all go once and for all.  I have my answer and I don’t need to keep replaying it.  As deep calls unto deep, I can let the Lord have this deep place and fill it with more of Him. He is calling me to higher levels with each step up the mountain of God.  I am in the Refiner’s fire, which is painful but good as it is perfecting that which concerns me.   I have no reason to be insecure and am equipped to deal with the temptation to return should I sense it trying to creep back.  I can talk to myself the way my Love talks to me: I am my Beloved's and He is mine, I am accepted unconditionally by Him even though He sees every terrible thing still needing His touch.

We each are given choices in this life. We can continue with what is harmful or we can choose to go with what brings health and life.  Sometimes it’s tough to let go of the anger, frustration, self pity, unforgiveness or whatever else is in the way of our freedom, but it is imperative to our receiving the blessings of joy and peace.  There are going to be times in each of our lives when we have opportunity to feel insecure.  We need to make the choice to not believe the lies being whispered in our ear by the enemy who wants our focus to be on ourselves, looking down, so we will miss what we could have had if we had just been looking up. So in answer to my original question, "Am I wanted" the answer for each of us is a resounding, "YES!" from the very heart of God.

I smiled as He touched my heart one more time to confirm and reassure me with last night's performance on Jimmy Fallon they sang, “Let it Go” using children’s classroom instruments.  How simple…

Excerpts from "Let It Go"

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight

Not a footprint to be seen

A kingdom of isolation,

And it looks like I’m the queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside

Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see

Be the good girl you always have to be

Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know

Well, now they know

Let it go, let it go

Can’t hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go

Turn away and slam the door

I don’t care

What they’re going to say

Let the storm rage on,

The cold never bothered me anyway

It’s funny how some distance

Makes everything seem small

And the fears that once controlled me

Can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do

To test the limits and break through

I’m free

I’m never going back,

The past is in the past

Let it go, let it go

And I'll rise like the break of dawn

Let it go, let it go

That perfect girl is gone

Here I stand

In the light…

GOOD GRIEF...OR BAD?

I read a Facebook post recently from a parent of a child whose departing this earth to be with the Lord was high profile and covered in much prayer and emotion from a wide audience.  I am in awe of those parents whose child went home after a long battle because throughout the journey, they have been raw in their honesty yet true to their faith in the Lord.  That is why they can speak the bold things they do about the Lord in the midst of their own grief and are not destroyed by the tragedy.  These parents have shared with anyone who will read the status updates, the process of moving through their grief and sorrow over what I think has to be the most painful loss there exists…that of your child.  Father God knows that pain Himself as He sent His Son Jesus for the very purpose of rescuing His future children through the death of His beloved Child. 

In reading the mother’s post which was a “Happy Birthday” to their little girl, I felt moved to address grief in this post.  I think it is something so personal and mistreated.  I think there is much attempt on our parts to avoid it ourselves because it’s so painful.  We also exert much effort trying to get a bereaved individual to be encouraged and not in sorrow because it’s uncomfortable to be with someone going through that pain.  We are awkward because we really don’t know what to do or say.  In our smallness of mind, we well meaning ones try to “help” by saying some very foolish things, like, “God needed another angel so He took your baby.”  What fruit is produced by saying something like that?  First of all, angels are entirely different created spirit beings than humans and humans do not transform into angels upon death.  There is absolutely nothing scriptural about that statement.  Secondly, and probably most importantly, it can cause a heart to hate God for taking that precious person from our lives.  Sometimes the best thing to do with someone experiencing pain from grief is to be quiet, saying more through our holding them, or just being present, then expressing well meaning but foolish words.

I once heard a well known preacher/teacher tell of his own family’s loss of a dear one and he proceeded to address their tears with an exhortation and correction to not cry or grieve that loss.  To do so, he instructed, was to show lack of joy in the Lord and in His goodness to have taken their born again loved one to heaven and denies the fact that Jesus took our sorrow to the cross.  He continued that the knowledge of the loved one being a born again Christian should have produced nothing but rejoicing, knowing he was in heaven!  What this person didn’t understand, was that he was denying his family the right to grieve and move through it. 

If we don’t move through and eventually release grief in a healthy way, it will manifest in other ways:  unresolved anger, bitterness, loneliness, irritability, touchiness, depression, anxiety, or even as severe as suicide, at the thought of not being able to go on without that loved one.  What that man did in his instruction was forget that Jesus Himself grieved with weeping with Mary and Martha over the death of His friend, Lazarus, John 11:33-36; and over the loss of His dear Jerusalem who would not come to Him, Luke 19:41-44.  If Jesus Himself grieved, why would we think we should not go through the process ourselves?

Grief is as personal as each individual.  Different personalities, life experiences, equipping, knowledge, will create diverse ways of coping with grief.  There is a good way to move through it and a bad way.  I have experienced both. 

In the early 90’s I suffered the loss of my dad at a time in my life when I had endured loss of so many other things: my marriage, relationships, health, career, earthly possessions, reputation, freedom.  The marriage never was healthy and so was gone before it began as I married out of God’s will by marrying an unbeliever. The other elements of my life I lost were due to toxic exposure to chemicals in a new school building in which daily contact destroyed my immune system.  This created a “bubble girl” kind of effect in my life.  I became a social isolate and had to guard everything I ate, breathed or touched or I would experience debilitating symptoms which rendered me disabled.  Throughout that grueling experience, my one and only support was my father, with the exception of one compassionate friend who likewise was experiencing the same thing, just not to the degree that I was affected.  My dad was my “go to” because I did not have the relationship with God I do today.  My father was my “god”.  I idolized him as the one who was “all knowing and wise.”  He was an exceptional man, but I put him in a position he and no man deserves.  Instead of running to the throne I ran to the phone.  I didn’t understand to seek God first and let Him lead in who He would use to minister to me.  I just instinctively counted on my dad for everything.  In the midst of the battle for my own life, the call came that he too would now face a battle…one with cancer. 

How I wish I had known then what I now know about our weapons in Christ instead of accepting the traditional yet passive doctrine; “If it’s God’s will I’ll be healed.”  How I wish I’d known then that you can fight with weapons through Christ which are mighty for pulling down strongholds, how you have authority over your body and evil spirits which cause sickness and disease, how you can lay your hands in faith on the sick and they will recover, how you can change the very course of nature with your words, (2 Cor. 10:4, Luke 10:19, Eph. 6:10-18, 1:17-2:6; Mark 16:18, Romans 4:17, James 3:6; Prov. 18:21).  For lack of knowledge, My people perish, Hosea 4:6. (Sidebar:  As a contrast, years later, my mother was likewise stricken with incurable cancer; pancreatic, and given 3-4 months at most to live, but at that point I knew what to do in Christ and how to battle with His instruction and guidance.  She is alive today, years later, cancer free.)

I entered the fight with my father ill equipped and we lost the battle.  He passed before my very eyes.  From that moment on, I entertained and agreed with a spirit of grief.  Camping out in grief’s parking lot initiated a level of depression to the point I became even more immobile than I was prior to dad’s passing onto heaven.  I couldn’t seem to have any good memories of him; only the scene of death playing over and over in my mind as I would hit the rewind button and relive that morose scene.  I grew darker and darker on the inside.  Instead of finding a healthy way to pass through this valley of the shadow of death, I let it consume me.  As my health continued to decline, I suffered seizures in addition to all the other incapacitating symptoms.  I grieved Dad’s loss for a couple of years.  Every time anything brought a memory of him, I would cry for long periods of time.  I felt the loss so deep it literally felt like a knife cutting into me daily in the very depth of my being.  I felt so alone without his understanding ear or strong shoulders of which to lean.  Except for my will to be alive and functional for my beautiful children, I’m not sure how deep of a pit I would have sunk, but believe God gave me such treasure in them that I refused to give up completely. 

God, in His mercy, allowed me to slip into obscurity, to the point that I finally found myself in a place I knew I had to escape or I would perish.  The Lord was right there, illuminating my way and lifting me out of that dark pit.  I no longer wanted that mindset capturing my emotions and body.  I wanted out and He brought me to a wonderful refuge of safety and hope in Him.  I was finally free in spirit, soul and body.  My heart was no longer broken, my mind refused to think of things which brought me back to dark places, and my body began to manifest health again. 

In the process of deliverance, and over time, I was then able to allow Him to take me step by step through all the places of grief of which I suffered over the years since childhood.  Some of which I didn’t recognize as loss, was actually foundational for my understanding of why I seemed to grieve to an inordinate and harmful extent.  In equipping me with Himself, His Truth, His understanding, I began to walk in a new place of freedom from unhealthy grief of which I am eternally grateful.

With grief, we need to understand that it is normal to have sadness from loss, but if we are Christians, we have a Way for healing of our hearts, minds, and emotions from the loss.  Although we can grieve loss of anything, ie. job, friends, health, opportunities, house, relationships, family pet, etc., one of the most painful is the loss of a loved one.  If the loved one was a child or born again Christian, we can have the assurance we will see them again if we too are born again.  I gained a glimmer of understanding of this when I had to move away from my kids (which likewise includes my beloved son and daughter in law) and grandkids to relocate in a different state.  I felt so far away and cried as I unpacked the pictures of them from the boxes which held my belongings.  I didn’t think I would make it without having them close by.  I thought it unbearable to not be able to see each other when ever we wanted and to share the simple spontaneous things we so enjoyed together.  Then God, in His mercy, opened the way sooner than I expected to be able to move back to my children, and even placed us right in the same neighborhood as one child’s family and only ten minutes from the other!  This was far better than I had imagined and my heart is so full of how good our God is and how He tends to the details of our lives with such affection and care!  The homecoming has been full of peace and joy immeasurable.  I just had to be patient for His timing and ways which were far better than mine anyway. 

This move away and back again gave me a small picture of how our Homecoming will be when we all meet together in heaven with our loved ones who went before us.  When we say the cliché, “they are in a better place” we know that’s true but because we can’t relate, it doesn’t really help our own sorrow over the departure from us. We can, however, fix our thoughts on the knowledge that we will be with them again. We can rejoice in their Homecoming; they truly are in a place that is beyond our imagination.  We have never experienced something so magnificent , so we don’t have the capacity to understand how truly joyful it is to be there nor how glorious our elation will be to see them again, in perfection, with our beautiful Lord and His majesty. Some may not have the assurance that their loved one was born again.  I will tell you that we do have some loved ones who are born again, believing in the Lord to save them, but they did not show much evidence because they didn't spend time in the Word, letting it transform them.  For those who we don't know with all certainty they were born again, we have to commit that to the Lord and trust Him.  No one knows what transpired between that individual and the Lord just prior to their death.

In the meantime, we need to press into God, for He is the Healer of our wounded hearts.  He is no stranger to sorrow and grief and took that upon Himself.  No one understands better than Him what we are individually encountering and experiencing.  We can therfore accept His embrace as we go to Him to release our pain and ask and expect Him to heal us.  We can actually get to a place in Him whereby we still miss our loved one, but we don’t sorrow over the loss, knowing He is holding both them and us…forever.

As the holidays are upon us, if any of you are experiencing grief, which seems to occur more this time of year than any other season, I pray the Lover and Comforter of your soul, stirs and awakens you to a new level of comfort in Him.

As I finish this post, I am stricken with sadness over something that is trying to paint the holidays with melancholy because of the way this season currently has to be navigated by us.  I could feel my joy slipping and then heard the Lord tenderly whisper, “Can you just let that go and worship Me?”  As I surrender to the beauty of this moment of worship, I know that although He is always worthy of our worship, He is also doing this for my release from what is trying to occupy my heart and mind.  In His presence is fullness of joy.  I abandon all to You, my Love…