"To walk faithfully with God will always bring a person to experience God's laying His Heart over his." Henry Blackaby. If there is one thing this study of "unthinkable circumstances" is reminding of it's that everyone has some. Yes, some, often more than one "unthinkable" thing in their life and it's surprising how many people have multiple things all surfacing at the same time like my family did.
This week we were an extremely small group meeting Wednesday night but as God would have it, it was exactly the right setting for two gals to share some of their personal unthinkable situation. One gal shared carefully stating that there were just too many people around the first few weeks, some of them associated with her place of work and she just couldn't share. But now, she wanted to and she did. Her honesty and open-ness led the gal sitting next to her to share a tragic event in her life from when she was 13 years old and this wonderful woman is older than me! (Which means she has been hiding these thoughts for a looong time.) She told us she had never told anyone except her husband. She had so much hurt stored away in her heart. One of the points of being open about your circumstance is to "clean out the wound." When you are honest and open you don't have to hide anymore. You don't have to carefully select your words or decide if to even speak. You don't have to remember what you have and haven't told someone. You don't have to "put your happy face on" if you don't feel like it. You can be real. That said, it is not necessary to tell every detail to every person. One sweet gal in our group keeps reminding us that her counselor tells her not to "ruminate" on the past. He means of course that we do not have to rehash all the details every day. Learn the truth, deal with it and move on! Today is a new day. That does not mean to live pretending "it" never happened. It does mean to learn from it. Live wiser but free from "it" controlling your every thought and decision.
Years into the healing of our circumstances my husband was asked to share his story with a group of men at our church. He did so with great abandonment. He was so happy to share the victory from secrets and shame in his life. Afterwards a young man came up to him asking with unbelief in his voice, "why would you publicly share all of that crud in your life?" My husband was smiling big as he told me his response, "only be to please the Lord. Because the Lord asked me to and because you no longer have any power over me. I'm not hiding anything." That is HUGE. My husband is living experiencing freedom in Christ due to his faith that God can handle his life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Everyone of us in that small group meeting in a preschool room in our church Wednesday night could honestly say, "I believe in a God who can handle me and my life circumstances even when things look really lousy." That faith has and is carrying us through each day of our life. Jim Cymbala said, "People with faith develop a second kind of sight. They see more than just the circumstances; they see God right beside them." Amen! Like Elijah praying for his servant, today my prayer for myself and for you is that God would open your eyes to see Him all around you no matter what you life circumstances look like today.
This week we were an extremely small group meeting Wednesday night but as God would have it, it was exactly the right setting for two gals to share some of their personal unthinkable situation. One gal shared carefully stating that there were just too many people around the first few weeks, some of them associated with her place of work and she just couldn't share. But now, she wanted to and she did. Her honesty and open-ness led the gal sitting next to her to share a tragic event in her life from when she was 13 years old and this wonderful woman is older than me! (Which means she has been hiding these thoughts for a looong time.) She told us she had never told anyone except her husband. She had so much hurt stored away in her heart. One of the points of being open about your circumstance is to "clean out the wound." When you are honest and open you don't have to hide anymore. You don't have to carefully select your words or decide if to even speak. You don't have to remember what you have and haven't told someone. You don't have to "put your happy face on" if you don't feel like it. You can be real. That said, it is not necessary to tell every detail to every person. One sweet gal in our group keeps reminding us that her counselor tells her not to "ruminate" on the past. He means of course that we do not have to rehash all the details every day. Learn the truth, deal with it and move on! Today is a new day. That does not mean to live pretending "it" never happened. It does mean to learn from it. Live wiser but free from "it" controlling your every thought and decision.
Years into the healing of our circumstances my husband was asked to share his story with a group of men at our church. He did so with great abandonment. He was so happy to share the victory from secrets and shame in his life. Afterwards a young man came up to him asking with unbelief in his voice, "why would you publicly share all of that crud in your life?" My husband was smiling big as he told me his response, "only be to please the Lord. Because the Lord asked me to and because you no longer have any power over me. I'm not hiding anything." That is HUGE. My husband is living experiencing freedom in Christ due to his faith that God can handle his life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Everyone of us in that small group meeting in a preschool room in our church Wednesday night could honestly say, "I believe in a God who can handle me and my life circumstances even when things look really lousy." That faith has and is carrying us through each day of our life. Jim Cymbala said, "People with faith develop a second kind of sight. They see more than just the circumstances; they see God right beside them." Amen! Like Elijah praying for his servant, today my prayer for myself and for you is that God would open your eyes to see Him all around you no matter what you life circumstances look like today.
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