Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Breaking and Healing

I have a phone with swipe texting. It has been a source of some fun at times. Like the time I texted, "Do you want to go to a pregnancy exchange?" to my daughter. Or "How was your nothing?" to my husband. This morning a foibled text I was sending to my friend, who is in the middle of a tough relational struggle, made me stop and think. I meant to say, "No healing is ever going to happen unless...." The phone texted, "No breaking is ever going to happen unless...." And it hit me. Is there healing without breaking?

What really is brokenness before God, but a path to restoration and healing? The admittance that we have been wrong all along and are surrendering to His ways, which will effect the healing of our souls and will the conduit to heal broken relationships.

I have been in the middle of a tug-of-war with God on some of the things I want to cling to for some time, and more and more He is showing me that I won't heal from these unless I let myself be broken before Him.  It's not a whisper anymore. He has picked up the megaphone.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16  For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:14-17

Tiina

Friday, July 6, 2012

A Car Ride with Jesus: Light in the Darkness


Image from here


Some of my favorite times with God are when I am driving from here to there during the craziness of my day. God has so ministered to my heart during these times, often bringing things to my mind that I need to work through or even ideas for projects I am working on at school.

Last fall, I was driving home and just letting my mind wander as I drove down the dark lanes of the 17 and I thought to myself how beautiful the lights were in the darkness. My mind shifted to memories of Christmas lights and how I was always enraptured by the beauty of a lit up Christmas tree in the dark stillness of a home. My heart just loves the simple beauty of light! My mind then shifted to a passage in the prologue of John that we had just read in my Greek class that week.

It says, “ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:4-5).

Can I just say that I love my Greek class…it is a ton of work but I have learned so much about the absolute stunning beauty and clarity of the God’s Word. I remember reading this in class and thinking that the battle is already won. We know this from Revelation, but here we see that Jesus is the Light and the darkness could not comprehend it. Another way to say this is that the darkness cannot contain the light. They will always stand in opposition to one another. I remember being blown away by the reality that I have nothing to fear. Jesus is light and the darkness of the world can’t contain Him. Because I have the Holy Spirit is in me, I will always stand in opposition to the darkness but it will not be able to comprehend, contain, or even ultimately destroy me.

Then, as I am sitting in the car, thinking about the simplistic beauty of Christmas lights in the darkness, it hit me even more fully. We might not know why we find candlelit dinners or Christmas lights so beautiful, but our hearts do. Deep down, we find something beautiful about lights in darkness. Perhaps without us even knowing, we are drawn to the beauty of God’s work in our lives; that He sent His son into the world to bring redemption to humankind. And that timeless truth of that sacrifice will always shine as a light in the darkness.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day!

Picture Source