When He created the world He said everything was good except one thing, it wasn't good for man to be alone. Loneliness is not part of God's plan. We are supposed to be in relationships with people. Relationships can be meaningful and satisfying. Positive relationships can mold us into better people and fill our deepest desires of companionship. We all want to be in relationships. Tom Hanks created a friend out of a volleyball when he was alone and desperate for someone to talk to. Whether it be with friends, family, or partners we long for relationships because we were designed to be with other people.
Relationships are an amazing gift from God but they can also bring about the most emotional pain. It is difficult to move past the hurt that is born when you are wronged by someone you love. Distrust begins to grow and infect all aspects of the relationship. Even when the one we love is truly remorseful, it is hard to move on and trust like we once did. Thoughts of what they are really doing or how they really feel are always there as satan plants seeds of doubt about their sincerity or your ability to mend the relationship.
We know forgiveness is found in Christ and we know the one we love has been forgiven if they have sought repentance but we can't seem to forget, we just can't move on. Trust is like a shattered mug that was repaired, it might still hold water but the crack lines are still prevalent and the mug will truly never be the same again.Why is it so hard to move on, after all God did.
The Bible says He takes our sins away and remembers them no more. Why can't we do the same? Friends, we are human, flawed, and mortally damaged. It is not in our ability to forget but it is in our ability to forget the pain, move on and truly forgive. When we do not allow the pain to dissipate we allow satan to shackle us with thoughts of distrust and inadequacy. We will always distrust, doubt, and wonder about those who have wronged us and rob them and ourselves of the blessing and joy that comes from restored relationships. Restored relationships give way to newness and rebirth when repentance and reconciliation takes place. We can never forget what happened but with prayer and the Holy Spirit we can find a way to start again. Our God gives us a fresh start when we humbly come before Him and allow Him to carry our pain as we admit we can't do this alone. He longs to reconcile His people.
Stella has been having trouble falling asleep. I am worried she is colicky like my other children were. As she cries in my arms at night, in the midst of the crying and pain she is feeling I can't help but feel overwhelmed. I know my other children did this and I know I have felt the same way before but the hard times never deterred me from desiring to be a mom again. It's almost like you know it was hard but you don't equate the hard times with negative emotions when you look back and see all the beauty and good that was born out of them.
I think reconciliation is similar. It feels very difficult and painful at the time. You don't know how to go about fixing the colicky relationship that overwhelms your every thought and the love and desire for a fresh start with the one you love is sucked out of you with every act of defiance and distrust. God can restore your relationship and bring you both to a place where you can be at peace and laugh again if we allow Him to show us the beauty that comes from true forgiveness and repentance.
As I rock sweet Stella I celebrate the newness that comes from being born again. I celebrate the deep longings my God has to restore His children into a loving relationship with Him. I celebrate how He doesn't remember and always forgives. But most of all I celebrate that my God gives us the strength to do what we don't think is possible and move on if we allow Him to.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
~ 2 Corinthians 5: 17-19
No comments:
Post a Comment