Jeremy said that he had
wounds inflicted from the pain of Melissa’s death but that God was beginning to heal
them. The scars would always be there, but now he looked at them through the
lens of hope. That’s a pretty accurate description of anyone who has
experienced any degree of suffering. The scars are there to remind us of where
we have been, but they do NOT have to dictate how we live after the wound. 
Stephan Hoeller said, “A
pearl is a beautiful thing that is produced by an injured life. It is the tear
{that results} from the injury of the oyster. The treasure of our being in this
world is also produced by an injured life. If we had not been wounded, if we
had not been injured, then we will not produce the pearl.”
Even the Son of God learnedobedience through the things he suffered.
When Christ committed to
becoming fully human he experienced all that we, as human’s experience. This thing
called being human, and all that it implies, tears of joy, muscles that ache
after a hard day’s work, laughter around the table with good friends, tears of
sorrow as those friends betrayed him, hunger, physical hunger and emotional
hunger.
He was lonely.
The night before He was to
go to and sacrifice His life for you and for me, He prayed in that garden.
(Luke 22) He asked the disciples with Him to watch and to pray that they might
not fall into temptation; do you know how he found them upon his return?
Sleeping. Maybe they were praying, and their minds wandered, or their bellies
were full from the meal they had earlier, or fuzzy from the wine, but they
dozed off, they just didn’t take His warning seriously, they were like, “K, Jesus,
we’ll just chill here while you go pray.” Even though He had JUST told them He was about to die for them.
There is no loneliness any
of us has ever felt that can compare to what Christ felt that night. It wasn’t
just his friends that turned their backs on Him; it was His Father as well. As
the realization struck Him, maybe as He looked into that cup that is so oft
talked about, He prayed. His obedience that night paves the way for OUR
obedience today.
“Father, IF you are willing,
remove this cup from Me; yet, not My will but (always) Yours be done.”
Elisabeth Elliott, one of
my favorite authors, has written several books on the topic of loneliness, in
one (The Path of Loneliness) she quotes a poem by another of my favorite women; Amy Carmichael titled “In
Acceptance Lieth Peace”
He said, “I will forget the
dying faces;
The empty places,
They shall be filled again.
O voices moaning deep
within me, cease,”
But vain the word; vain,
vain:
Not in forgetting lieth
peace.
He said, “I will crowd
action upon action,
The strife of faction shall
stir me and sustain;
O tears that drown the fire
of manhood, cease.”
But vain the word; vain,
vain:
Not in endeavor lieth
peace.
He said, “I will withdraw
me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life’s riot?
Shut be my door to pain,
Desire, thou dost befool
me, thou shalt cease.”
Not in aloofness lieth
peace.
He said, I will accept the
breaking sorrow
Which God tomorrow will to
His Son explain.”
Then did the turmoil deep
within him cease.
Not vain the word, not
vain;
For in acceptance lieth
peace.
Jeremy found that in
accepting the pain of his circumstances, that God had something MORE beautiful for him. I
found that in embracing the pain of my circumstances God has had so much MORE
for me on the other side of the pain. The scars remain, sure, but now they are
a testimony to where I have been, and that I survived, and they are a talking point to what HE has done through it all. Funny how when we are
suffering we feel like the lessons of the furnace are ONLY for us, but they
aren’t.
Jeremy met a young woman
while touring who had become disheartened with the whole Christian music scene.
She was curious about him after learning about his painful testimony, and that
he was STILL standing strong. She knew that he was because he was living what
he said. That grabbed her interest.
People can smell a faker.
I’m a BIG advocate of being
who you are all the time. If you’re angry with God, tell Him, tell other
believers, get the help you need so you can get back to where you need to be.
All this pretending everything is perfect when clearly it is not needs to stop.
The church is supposed to be for the hurting and wounded sheep, if we can’t
come in and confess our sins to one another where else are we supposed to go?
Remember in acceptance
lieth peace…it may not seem like it now, but you will have that peace that
passes understanding, and there will be a blessing on the other side. Once I
stopped being so angry that God had allowed what happened to me and really embraced
the pain of it all I began to heal, but not until I was willing to be obedient
and suffer that pain…and it was ugly…ask my husband.
Christ knew that in drinking
that cup overflowing with the sins of humanity, something beautiful was being
done for us. He said it once, If it be possible, take this cup, Nevertheless, Not
my will but Yours be done.
In ALL of our sufferings may our hearts be so
committed to the will of the Father…
XOXO
No comments:
Post a Comment