I was told somewhere along the way that He never wastes a hurt. It’s cool to see that come to fruition. We serve a very efficient God – He gets a lot of mileage out of our experiences, long after we think we’re past them and have moved on.
I had dinner with a friend of mine tonight. She’s one of those “Spirit” friends – the kind of friendship that is from Him and does not require constant attention or maintenance to continue to grow and strengthen. It’s amazing, actually, when I think about how many of these types of friendships I really have… Anyway, we have not spent any meaningful time together in quite a while. She called me out of the blue last night, needing guidance in a situation she is walking through.
I’ve been in the situation she’s in now, and it is no fun. The cool part about this is that she gets the benefit of my experience to help guide her along the way. It makes having gone through an incredibly painful experience much better knowing He’s getting a lot of mileage out of it, and I got to help my friend, to offer her sound advice and hope and peace that only comes from Him.
There is reciprocity here, as well. I was having a terrible day – too tired from a really crappy week to go hang out with my community, too unsettled to watch TV or read or even pray. I ended up sleeping most of the day. He brought me to mind last night, knowing what this day would be like for me and knowing that my love for her would pull me out of my self-indulgent pout back into Life.
I seem to be sliding off the mountaintop, through the valley and headed straight for the desert. We sing a song in church - “from the mountain, to the valley, may our praises rise to You…” I used to envision the world at creation when singing that song, similar to C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew, when Aslan is singing the world into existence. It spoke to me of the vastness of His love and His people singing His praises throughout the earth. Now, I hear new meaning in that song. It speaks to me of Spiritual mountains and valleys, ala David in the Psalms. His emotions were all over the place – one psalm he’s praising the Lord with all he has in him, and the next he’s seemingly about to keel over in his intense agony and need for the Lord. I understand David more now than I ever have. I should have expected to crash and burn – it happens to the best of us after an intense encounter with the Lord. There’s no way to maintain that kind of high for long.
Today’s Scripture is Psalm 63 – quoted, coincidentally, a few posts back (day 25 – contrition – how cool is that?). Today is meant to be a day of reflection and gratitude. I just wasn’t feeling it – readily admitting that faith and my love for the Lord is not based on feelings. I need Him to let up or call the enemy off – whichever it is – I’m at a breaking point. Thanks, Josh, for praying for brokenness last Sunday at the Ring…
I know times of brokenness are inevitable; that they are incredibly fruitful times. It’s also very easy to forget how much it sucks to be here. So this day is about standing firm (even when I am flat on my back, Spiritually speaking) – a day where I will say, “And YET I will praise the LORD.”
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