I want to thank my beautiful friend Trudy for capturing another one of Gods beautiful masterpieces. She sees things that most overlook and is able to convey God through her lens. Anointed and gifted woman of God.
I so love this picture because its simplicity captures so much of whom God is. Its as though he is the water and we are the leaves. We come in all different shapes, sizes and colors and we all have lived and journeyed through life. Many of us have encountered deep brokenness, hurts and wounds, pains that have altered us and redefined who we are. We have held onto branches that aren’t strong enough to sustain us and we have held onto bitterness, unforgiveness, shame and guilt because they have justified the way we feel. We have clung onto the wrong things because the fear of letting go is so great that it has blurred our vision of truth and healing. But there will come a time when the branch we have been grasping, holding onto with every ounce of our strength will brake and we will fall because the heaviness of what we are carrying can not be sustained any longer. We will fall, maybe even crumble but when we do fall we have a choice to fall into dirt where we will get stepped on and overlooked or we can fall into him where he will carry us through, guide us and direct us. He is the living water that flows in and through us. He is steady, consistent and he keeps us afloat. He will not allow us to sink but we will flow in the direction or the current in which he knows will take us to new depths within him. As other rubble falls into the sea, he weeds out what is toxic and reshapes us into looking more like him.
I don’t know where you are today. If you feel broken and shattered, hopeless and are just holding onto your source of pain and bitterness because you are too scared to let go and too scared to fall. Scared the pain of letting go and facing the devastating hurts in your life would be greater then the pain you are currently living with. Maybe you are scared that once you face the giants that lie behind you, you will break down even further and maybe you feel as though you may never be able to stand again. That you would be crippled by this pain and agony forever and that this will stir the pot up when you have had everything under “control.”
I am not going to sit here and lie to you. Trekking through the pain and heartache is real. Its not easy, in fact its hard to walk through pain and hurts, reliving what has destroyed your ability to trust, love and feel safe. But I am here to tell you this, LET GO. Fall, release yourself of the bitterness, anger, pain and hurt that you are carrying around with you. Its weighing you down and its keeping you from being all that God wants and calls you to be. Yes, the pain of letting go and allowing God to purify you, restore you and redeem you is hard and you may have some bumps and bruises along the road but when you walk through what once broke you, and allow HIM to be God, the reward is so freeing.
I always say that I would rather walk through pain for a season then for a lifetime. I know this because for years I ran from my feelings, emotions, pains and hurts. I never had “time” to deal with the abandonment and rejection. I didn’t have time to be debilitated by all that had happened to me and I stuffed all of it way down deep inside, putting on a happy face and living life, so I thought. I thought if I just kept going, time would heal all things and that wasn’t the case at all. I broke, in fact I shattered into so many fragile pieces and I was scattered across the sea. It took a miracle, an act of God to find me, rescue me and he slowly pieced me back together as I learned to trust him. Yet, he didn’t take all the pieces that had shattered when he pieced me back together. He allowed the ones that were detrimental, poison to my soul to sink and never rise up again and replaced those pieces with HIM. I was scared to relieve the pains, I was scared to deal with so much of my past that I had tucked away and I was scared that I would never come out of the depths of darkness with hope and a reason to keep pressing forward but I was SO wrong. When I handed my life over to HIM, and I allowed him to lead me, direct me and guide me. When I allowed Him to be God and purify within me all that needed to be cleaned out, I was redeemed, I was set free and I became more alive than I had ever been.
You see, we are all going to face difficulties, trials, hurts and pains. There is nowhere in Scripture that says our lives will be smooth sailing but what it does say is that HE will be there to catch us when you fall. He will be there to rescue us from the fire and he will be there to love on us, hold our hand and he will be there to set us free. Trust him to do what he has promised to do. Let go of the branch, fall into his living water and allow his currents to whisk you away into his love, presence and embrace. You may take on a new shape or color but I promise you this. Your shape will be beautiful and your color will be so vibrant and you will never drown. You will rise up to new heights and depths within him and as you float, glide and sail away you will be captivated by his love and glory. How incredibly awesome is that?