You know that God is trying to get a message through to you when the same theme or idea continues to pop up in different areas of your life. This has been happening to me lately. When you allow yourself to be soft and open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, it allows the very whispers of heaven to make their way deep into your soul. Do you have ears to hear? Do you have a heart that is listening? Are you getting the message?
As I walk alongside other pilgrims on this journey, especially young girls and women, a passion burns within me to share what the Lord is working out in me and to hear what He is doing in others’ lives. Sadly, over the years, my testimony has been crippled by my own insecurities; tainted by my own pain and shame. I have carried emotional baggage much further and for much longer than my Heavenly Father ever intended. I’ve allowed the shadows of past sins and hurts to darken the abundant life Jesus came and died to secure for me. I am not alone…
Like smoke from a fire gets into the very fiber of all that it touches, so the stench of the history of our suffering clings to us. So many people are allowing their past to define their present…and their future. Past transgressions, either inflicted upon us or carried out by our own hands, continue to hold us captive and stop the flow of LIFE that we were created to carry and pour out to the world. As Christ followers, we are mandated to bring the message of hope, joy and promise to the masses. What is flowing through me if everything that enters in filters through a tangled mess of bitterness or regret or unrepented sin or shame? What is NOT flowing through me or through you? What is being blocked?
Scripture is full of promises and encouragement…
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
“Jesus said: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
“Now it is God who makes both us and you to stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. ” 2Corinthians 1:21-22
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.” John 16:33
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
…Then WHY??
Why is it so difficult to release the past and let go of the pain and shame? Some events are so shattering to one’s soul that it may seem impossible to let go…
Consider the child who was abandoned by a parent…
Consider the teenager who was forced to have an abortion by her Christian parents because they were too ashamed to accept her unexpected pregnancy…
Consider the little girl who was abused physically, emotionally and sexually by a family member or a family friend…
Consider the young lady who was raped on a date during her college years…
Consider the young man who turned to drugs and alcohol in middle school to numb the feelings of rage that invaded his thoughts…
Consider the husband or wife who had an extramarital affair…
Consider the husband or wife who discovered their spouse had an extramarital affair…
Consider the pastor who is addicted to pornography…
Consider the mother who lashes out verbally in uncontrollable anger toward her children…
Consider….the….who….
You can fill in the details, but Jesus blood covers it all! There is no past, no sin, no offense that is too much for Him! No pain is too great for Him to take from you! So give it to Him! There may be pain in the offering, in fact there is always pain in growth. However, without growth there is no LIFE! No LIFE equals…death.
In my own journey, I usually experience growth in spurts. A period of stretching and progress can often be followed by a period that seems to produce little or no growth. But one thing I know is that God never stops expecting me to grow and because He is God, He never runs out of the provision needed to nurture and support that growth in me! So, I need not be afraid! I do not have to back away from the pain and difficulty that so often accompanies progress. It is, in many ways, a birthing process. Pain giving birth to growth…progressing through pain to get to LIFE!
T.D. Jakes, in his book Woman Thou Art Loosed describes it like this:
“As you begin to push in spite of the pain, the pain recedes into the background because you become preoccupied with the change rather than the problem. Push! You don’t have time to cry. Push! You don’t have time to be suicidal. Push! This is not time to give up. Push, because God is about to birth a promise through you. Cry if you must, and groan if you have to , but keep on pushing because God has promised that if it is to come into the world, it’s got to pass through you.”
What is the world waiting on you for? What is God wanting to birth through your pain? What are you holding on to so tightly that it is holding back new life? What is missing from the Kingdom if you don’t continue to PUSH?
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20 
