Tuesday, July 12, 2011

FOOD FOR THOUGHT - TUESDAY

DON'T LET WOUNDS OF THE PAST WEIGH YOU DOWN
BASK IN HIS GRACE

Unfortunately, though, many of us have bought into the lie that it’s too painful to deal with wounds of the past, so we set out to feel good and bury the wound, but that woundedness has more power over our lives than we realize. It leaks out into our most important relationships, our career choices, the way we socialize, or not, and on and on. That is what I see happened to my friend who is sick and tired of bad things happening to good people. Her unresolved wounds leaked out into all areas of her life. 

She went on to share with me that “Little by little, the path began to erode.” The things that happened were definitely painful. Her mom moved to Oregon without telling her she was going to do so — there really is an inner child in all of us that never stops hoping that we will be accepted by our mother and/or father, or that they will change, or that they will love us. The list of hopes is endless — and to top that wound off, 15 years into her marriage, she learned that her husband was doing terrible drugs. Ouch!

As I relive her past, I can’t help but be blessed and honored at His sovereignty that has allowed me to befriend her and love her despite her negativity and difficult disposition. Oh how I remember that pain when I discovered that my son’s dad was doing drugs. And talk about disillusioned! But I do understand, so much better now than then, that people have choices, and good people get affected by people’s bad choices.

Anyway, she thought that God was just testing her to see how much she could handle on her plate. I don’t believe God tests us with other people’s mistakes and bad choices, but I do believe He uses them to sharpen us, to refine us, to grow us and to become even more intimately real in our lives, IF we let Him. He truly is the only one who can take something so emotionally ugly and turn it into something spiritually beautiful. 
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