Have you ever been unreachable? You know, someone who doesn't want to be reached? Someone who cries out for help but as soon as it is offered you close up and run away and hide under a rock to fix it all by yourself only to find out that you can't?
I have been there. It seems that I can too easily find myself in a place where I want so much for someone to love me, to listen to me, to hold me and let me know that I am the most important person in their life, that I am valuable and worth their time. I have felt insignificant around those that I needed the most to reassure me that I was worthwhile. And then when they reached out to me, I felt like a burden, and said, "no, I'm okay, really!"
Except that I wasn't okay. I wasn't anywhere near okay! But something would stop me just before I grabbed the lifeline someone threw me. I felt guilty for asking for help in the first place. I felt stupid that I couldn't fix the problem myself. I felt needy. I felt that if they really cared they would have noticed without me telling them. Why couldn't they just see? Why do I have to tell them?
Occasionally in our lives circumstances happen through no fault of our own and cause us to grieve. It could be some devastating news of a crime, a world event, or something much closer to home. There are things that tear our lives apart--sickness, divorce, financial ruin, death, loneliness, or just the end of a dream. How do we deal with things that make our hearts ache?
Why do we beg for someone to love us and make it all better and then when God sends them we don't recognize it as an answer to prayer? Why is it so easy to run, to listen to the wrong voice and lock ourselves into a place we don't spiritually need to be? We hide. We cry. We think dark thoughts. Why? Why is it so easy to listen to the enemy's lies than to the promises of God?
Have you been there, dear Reader? Are you there now? Is your heart so torn apart from the loss of a dream of happily ever after that you think nothing will ever make it better? Have you made a mistake and tried to take care of it yourself, only to find out that now it was the wrong decision and you are too embarrassed or ashamed to ask for help? Even from God? Do you hide from Him because you know you messed up and don't feel worthy to ask for His forgiveness? Do you just feel exhausted?
Do you ever ask for His forgiveness and then even though you know you should worship Him, you feel He wouldn't hear you because you made such a terrible mistake? An unforgivable mistake? Is it too hard to forgive yourself?
Don't continue to let the devil put lies in your head. The fact of the matter is, God DOES love you! And if you are sorry and confess your sin to Him and ask forgiveness, and then repent, He will always forgive you. That is what He does, He loves and forgives those that ask and repent! If you just have 'the blues' and don't even know why, you must look up, look to the Big Man in the sky and seek His face, His light, His love!
Accept that you are beautiful in His eyes, and that He died for you. How could He not love you if He was willing to do that? Don't run away anymore. Just turn around and reach for Him. He is right behind you, waiting to enfold you in His embrace, stroke your hair, and whisper words of encouragement in your ear. He loves you, no matter what you have done. He is ready to hear your plea and forgive you because He is all loving and kind.
"Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray." Psalm 5:2
"And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” Deut 31:8
"In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.' Psalm 18:6
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
Monday, September 10, 2012
15 comments:
I would love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment and let me know if this post has made you think or helped you. To comment, just click the word Comment; even if it has a zero before it.. Please leave a message. BE SURE TO PREVIEW FIRST SO THAT YOUR COMMENT IS ACCEPTED, AND TYPE IN THE WORD VERIFICATION. Thank you, and have a blessed day!
On Name/URL tab, just type name (URL is optional)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I enjoyed your thoughtful and beautifully-written post.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sandy, that means a great deal to me. Be blessed!
DeleteOh my gosh, Deirdre! You are so dead on and this is exactly how I have felt many times but particularly recently after my ex died and people started to offer help. That's when I wrote the poem "This One Unloveable." Thank you for this! Apply it to yourself too every day. It sounds like God helped you work through your feelings. Go back to this post if it ever happens again. You are His beloved, dear Deirdre.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linnea, I am so very happy that you were helped by this. God helps us all in so many ways through each other, many we will never even know until later. He HAS helped me to see myself more as He does. God bless you!
DeleteDeirdre your posts are wonderful,truly wonderful and come along just when I'm feeling guilty, down or questioning. Thank you for always being here with these wonderful words.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Lori, I am so happy that they help. Isn't God great? God bless you!
DeleteHi Deirdre,
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite passages in the Bible is Psalm 18. There are some verses in that Psalm that are like a violin to me being played with my heart strings because that Psalm is so powerful. It is the cry of man or a woman that is sinking and crying out for the LORD to save them. I have in the last two years prayed this Psalm and cried out to GOD and I can honestly say He heard my voice and my cry went to his ears.
It is as you said a blessed thing to have a God who cares, a God who doesn't mind coming down and straightening things out in our lives.
But his help is based on our faith. I honestly believe that too many of us want to be independent and show God that we can do it, but we cannot do it. That is something that we all have to faith.
Thank you for this timely article. Yes, as I read it I thought, I have been there too. I will probably land there again, because we humans have short memories. However, it is reassuring to know as you have said, if we repent our LORD will forgive us for our sins and take us back into his everlasting arms.
I enjoyed reading this article tremendously. It made me look back and consider the goodness of God in my own life.
Ciao,
Patricia
Thank you, Pat, I know how much you love the Lord!
ReplyDeleteDear Deirdre,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your heartfelt post.
Thank you,
Martha Love
Thank you Martha! God bless you!
DeleteBeautiful and poignant as always!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sandy! God bless you!
DeleteDeirdre, you always post exactly what I need when I need it. You are a true preacher. I think you should have your own church, seriously, you're that good.
ReplyDeleteI needed to read some of those verses since I've been in fear for three days now suffering with afib and atrial flutter--where your heart pounds, jumps, trys to escape and stops off and on. My pacemaker seems unconcerned but I am fearful. I've prayed and it got better only to get worse again. But your words helped me lose some of my fear of it as it's a very frightening thing to experience as well as potentially fatal. Thanks for being near when I needed you--even if you were not aware.
Love, Micki
Micki, I am praying for your relief. Remember something very important, the enemy roams around like a lion seeking who he can devour. He only comes to steal (our health in your case), kill, and destroy. And fear comes from him too. God does not have a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. Relax and rest in the peace that Jesus left inside each one of us, a peace not as the world knows peace. I thank God for using me when He knows it is time. I love you. God bless you!
DeleteBeen there, Deirdre! He did not leave me all alone:>)
ReplyDelete