Remember that new season I asked for? The one that was supposed to come with the new year? It didn't. We experienced more loss almost immediately in the new year. Sometimes it doesn't matter if the loss is expected or supposed to be easier or you are supposed to rejoice at their great life or where they are going.
Sometimes loss just sucks. It just hurts and there is no way around it. I have experienced much loss in my life already. And I long for the day when there is no more suffering and pain and diease and sadness. I long for the day when there is nothing but joy and love and peace and unity.
Afterall, this is what we are created for isn't it? To live in peace in a beautiful place with our Creator. We were never meant to live among this chaos and yet we continue to bring it upon ourselve. Someday my sweet friends, if you know Jesus, we will leave this world. And someday after that a new world will be created more beautiful and peaceful than we can imagine.
Ramble much? ha! Anyways, I obviously needed to vent there!!
Back to why I originally came on here. Remember my words for the year, Stripped Away? Well, it's only been a couple months and God has blown that wide open. I thought I was going to be the one being stripped away. And while I have been and God has been slowly revealing different things to me these words haven't just effected me.
My family and some of my friends have been going through this process of being stripped away. I have a morning Bible study and when I shared with them recently my word for the year and what it meant to me I had tears spring up from all around the room. Everyone could resonate with parts of them being stripped away.
The definition of stripped away is to strip away something, especially something that hides the true nature of a thing, a means to remove it completely.
This can be a painful process. Usually the result is beauty underneath but the process can take a long time and it can be painstaking. We may not appreciate or even understand what is happening until the time is over. We may not see it for months or years to come. But God can see the big picture. He sees what we are going through and the why behind it.
What I can tell you, is that if you have faith in Jesus, everything doesn't need to make sense. And the good news is that the process of being stripped away doesn't have to leave wounds. It may be uncomfortable, it may hurt, it may not make sense to us, but there is One that understands it all.
I had no idea that part of my growth this year would be watching others be stripped away. I thought it would just be me being refined and changed. But watching some of them go through these things and then choose to grow and glorify God through it has been incredible. It has blessed me and taught me.
On the other hand watching some change in negative ways because of this process has been heartbreaking. Yes, it can be easier to remain the same. Yes, it can be easier to become happy where you are in life, in your walk with Jesus. But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. If it wasn't for this stripping away I wouldn't be as dependent on him as I am. I wouldn't need as much of Him as I do.
And isn't the point to stop relying on our strength and fully rely on God?
We have choices on how to respond when the layers are peeled back. When God uses people, or circumstances to expose our weaknesses or faults we have choices on how to respond. We can get mad that they were exposed, "Like how dare you God", right? OR we can say "Ok, I see what you did there and I need to work on this." Either way we have freewill.
I am praying that if this is a year or a season in which God is stripping away parts of you that you choose Him. I am praying for His peace and comfort and above all I am praying that you turn your face to heaven and seek Him for the answers. Xoxox
