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| (My own photo.) |
God
restores my soul.
What
part of me is my soul? My spirit is one with His, my body is my flesh and
blood, but my soul is comprised of my mind, will and emotions. All of those parts
of me have been influenced, and sadly, damaged by the world.
God
restores me through various means; often just a walk through the beautiful
creation of the nature around me brings incredible healing. But one of my
favorite ways is when He touches me through my friends and their encouragement
and the parts of life they share in with me. Most of the time they probably don’t
even realize the healing they impart to me. Maybe that’s because God is
actually the One imparting the healing, He’s just doing it through them; through you!
One
little reminder of love that brings me healing is a gift my friend Marie gave
me. Though my friends can be very giving, Marie’s gift illustrated to me one of
the many times she listens to me. Being heard and acknowledged brings tremendous
healing.
I
drink a lot of water and had mentioned, off the cuff, that when at home I
should drink from a glass, not bottled water. I hate contributing to the
plastic problems we have in our earthly environment. During a visit with Marie,
she gave me a cup; perfect for my needs. I don’t sip from this cup, I guzzle. I
drink more water than anyone I know. But, each drink from the cup reminds me
that she loves me and she listens to me and that she chooses to allow God to
restore my soul through her and our relationship. It was a simple gesture, but
it came from pure motives and a loving heart. I love her for this.
I
find it quite easy to love most everyone. But, certain people more
significantly write their names on our hearts. Marie is one of those people.
God bless you, Marie.
There
are so many ways we can allow God’s healing to pour through us into those we
love, and even into the strangers we meet every day. If you take a few minutes,
I’m sure you can come up with a list of ways God has poured into you through
the people around you. Sure, you can come up with a list of ways people have
hurt you, too. What kind of person do you want to be? One that drips with
healing or one that inflicts injury, {most commonly the kind of wounds we can’t
always see with our eyes)? We can bring healing just as easily as we can hurt.
We get to choose which words and actions we’ll use.
I’ll
bet we’ve all heard the phrase, “Hurt people hurt people”. The truth of the
matter is that when we inflict pain on those around us, it’s not always intentional.
When acting from a place of hurt, we do hurtful things, sometimes, without even
realizing it.
Often,
we can’t help but ask, “But when is someone going to pour into me?”
If someone shares healing with us, we can pass it along, blessing others from our
place of healing. It can feel impossible to help others when we’re hurting so
badly ourselves. We might be overlooking the actual sources of our distress, or
even be in denial about the wounds we bear; being blinded by our pain. That
definitely makes it harder to give good gifts to others and can prevent us from
seeing ugliness we might be spewing about into the lives of those we love.
But,
God does not leave us helpless or without resources. His Word is filled with
power and tools to make us more like Him; whole. When our pain is so great that
we refuse (consciously or not) to turn away from His Word, rather than to
it, He sends someone along to take our hand, or our heart, and lead us to Him.
Of course, we always have the option of pulling away from the help He sends to
us.
Some
of the biggest sacrifices we can make are through allowing God to act through
us, even when we ourselves are in insurmountable pain. And sometimes, some of
our biggest healing comes through the self-sacrificial love we choose to share.
Whether
it’s through a token of our love, or through our actions, we’re all capable of
showing our love, even when we’re tempted to act selfishly. We can do this only
when we yield to God and what He shows us to do.
How
has God been pouring into you? How has He been pouring through you?
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to
you.” – James 4:7-8 (NIV)
