For when we wrestle with the hard stuff

He already knows what's deeply encased in our wrecked souls ... and yet loves us anyway

Don't you just love that we can be our real, authentic, messy selves with our Heavenly Father?

This is the most sacred of relationships, yet there’s no need for masks, filters, fancy language, or pious platitudes as we give ourselves permission to gaze deeply into our Redeemer's loving eyes.  When we begin to truly get that He already knows what's deeply encased in our wrecked souls and yet loves us anyway, we get one of those sparkling 'aha' moments where we are freed, standing vulnerable yet strangely unashamed before Him, our needy hearts linking fully to His holiness.

There's no condemnation for those who are in, who are with, who are owned and loved by Christ Jesus.

And in that great grace-filled mercy that defines who He is, He invites us to place all our burdens and baggage, fears and hopes, traumas and dramas right on the table of His presence in all their raw, agonizing, ugly reality.  We name them each and every one, as we let go, surrender, and relinquish their powerful hold over our souls.

Not an easy task, is it.

Yet we know that there have been seasons when the only thing we could do was pray.  Unspeakable tragedies, private heartaches, unanswerable questions, and major decisions seem to come at us like relentless waves pounding on a sandy beach at high tide, eroding our hope, our energy, our zest for life.  After awhile, there seem to be no more words left to speak to God.  He's already heard it all from our groaning overloaded hearts.

But this, the prayer that never fails, the one spoken by Jesus Himself.

Thy  .  Will  .  Be  .  Done.

I find I'm breathing that simple plea more and more these days.  I'm long past done trying to be the Savior of the world or someone's Holy Spirit.  I've run out of words, my heart empties.  I release all I hold dear to Him.

I'm thinking He must love this simple yet oh-so-powerful four word sacrifice He taught us to pray.  Because it leaves the results in His hands.  Instead of me figuring it all out for Him, telling Him what to do, how to do it, when to have it done by.

I love that about my Savior.  He knows the end from the beginning.  And time and again He has shown me this unalterable truth.

He  .  Does  .  All  .  Things  .  Well.

He is worthy to be trusted.  He is worthy to be praised.

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
- Ephesians 3:16-19

Our precious Savior is always drawing us to something deeper, stronger, and way more alive in our faith walk with Him. What’s He inviting you to in these days?

Linda