God has called all of us to go on a journey. Our paths will all be different, but the destination is the same: the heart of God. Along the way, we will encounter potholes, detours, and heavy traffic. But these are all things that help us learn things - about ourselves, about others, and about God. Potholes teach us to pay attention to where we're going. Detours teach us that perhaps there is a better way around obstacles. And the traffic - we all know what that teaches us: patience.
My journey of course has not just begun. My journey began when I was born, as all of our journeys began. However, I am just now embarking on a new branch of my journey, and this branch will change my life forever.
God has called me into ministry. I am not going to be a pastor or a foreign missionary. But God has called me to use the brokenness in my past to help heal the brokenness in hurting women. I know that somehow I will use my writing and my voice (through speaking and singing) to reach out to people who are or have been in or are coming out of places of pain in their lives.
Everyone experiences pain at some point in their lives. It's what we do with the hurt and how we allow God to heal us that matters. If you are hurting, know that it is okay to feel the pain. A lot of times we try to hide what hurts us and the pain that comes from it. We feel ashamed or embarrassed, perhaps because of the situation or perhaps because we have this notion that we're not supposed to hurt. That is wrong thinking. Even Jesus experienced painful places (and I'm referring to times before His death). He was overwhelmed with sorrow and burdened by the weight of the sins of the whole world as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He hurt so much, he fell face down on the ground and prayed that God would relieve Him and take away the source of His pain, which was His inevitable death (Mt. 26:36-45). He was fully God, but fully human as well. He didn't want to die, and certainly not in the way He was going to. But God didn't take that cup from Him. Jesus willingly went through with it. And out of His pain, His death, came His resurrection and the opportunity for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life for all who believe.
What is God going to do through your pain? Maybe a part of you has to die, as Jesus died. But what can God bring about through that death? How glorious will your resurrection be after! And how many other lives could God touch through your pain?
This is the journey that I am embarking on. Over the next year, I am studying the scriptures to show myself approved to God (2 Tim. 2:15), so that I may follow His will and help others see that God can heal their spiritual wounds, and He can build something beautiful out of the wreckage of their lives.
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