Oh My!
What an overwhelming time I had last week.
I cried a lot.
Some of it from sheer joy as I’ve heard of what God is doing in the lives of people.
Some of it from utter heart break as I’ve received emails, and calls from people who feel they’re coming undone.
To help people understand The Beautiful Series Event I’ve been sharing a lot of my own story.
I can’t share some of what people have written to me in response as it’s been deeply personal struggles they’ve revealed.
However here’s a response I sent to one of those emails- While I was sharing with them I felt that it may reach someone else too:
Here it is:
Often what happens is while we’re hurting on the inside, we carry on.
We try to keep going on with life as normal but there’s something going on and that something needs to be dealt with.
It’s different things for different people- the causes are different, yet the results are often the same: Depression, despondency, loss of hope, loss of interest in the things we once enjoyed and believed in- Eventually we begin to feel numb to life, to joy, to the goodness around us and the emptiness seems to widen with each passing day.
I’ve learned something by watching my husband minister to people- and it’s that we don’t always have to know the absolute details of what’s going on in someone’s life- because the answer is always the same: Jesus.
Above anything else, it has been an intimacy with Jesus that has brought me tremendous healing and wholeness.
There were times when, honestly, the only thing that kept me going was my love for my children and not wanting them to have to grow up without their mom.
One of the things I’ve learned in my journey and watching the journeys of others is that despite what you’ve gone through you have to believe that God has a tremendous and beautiful purpose for you.
You have to see how valuable you are.
And that failures and mistakes- do NOT define who you are.
You are far more than the sum of your mishaps.
You are talented and gifted.
You are valued and needed.
You have to change the conversations you have with yourself.
See yourself as able to do the things you may feel you can’t do.
It doesn’t matter why you believe you can’t do them- it only matters that you begin to change the conversation (as my friend Tertia Butler says) from victim to victor, from failure to success.
Even in those things you felt God let you down- it is so important for you to believe He didn’t let you down.
It is vital that you get how intimately and passionately He loves You.
It doesn’t matter who’s rejected you- in your personal life, spiritual walk with God or even in business and work- God accepts you fully and absolutely.
I didn’t know the power of this until I begun to experience it.
For the longest time I looked to people- my husband, other family and friends to help me feel better, more accepted- all those important emotions that make us feel connected to others and thus make life worthwhile.
But, everything only begun to change when I began to realise how much God loved me. So very very intimately.
I threw myself into that!
Now, my identity is wrapped up, not in how others treat me- or my achievements but in the unshakable truth and fact that Jesus loves me.
It’s vital that we seek out teaching and ministry that tells us about how much God loves us.
May we allow Him to show us Scriptures He wants us to get lost in because He knows what our hearts need and He will bring that healing through His Word.
Despite the hurt, the disappointment, the loss, there is a new, beautiful, glorious, chapter waiting for You!
Know that you are loved and so very very wanted by a God who can have anything yet chooses to have you.
Don’t let the lies of the enemy win over your life.
Far Greater is He that is in You!
Blessings!
For more on The Beautiful Series Event, click here