SHARING OUR HURTS

We have all experienced some type of hurt or have had some type of bad experiences.  Some of us have experienced more than others, but on some level we all know what it feels like to hurt.  I had the privilege of leading two seminars on Human Trafficking at a Women’s Conference last weekend.  In the seminar I shared with the women some of my past hurts and experiences.  I also shared the work the Lord has done in my life and is currently doing.  At the end of the 2^nd seminar I led a lady came up to me, put her arm on my shoulder and the tears began to flow down her face.  I will never forget the words she said to me that day.  She said, “I am 75 years old and I was sexually abused by my brothers, cousins, uncles and dad and I have never told anyone except for you.  If you can talk about the bad things that have happened to you then I can too.”  As she told me her secret I could see fear in her eyes, but once she saw that I wasn’t going to condemn her or shame her I could see the weight of that secret being lifted off of her.

 

I can’t stop thinking about that lady and the amount of pain and shame she has carried around her whole life.  She had a secret she was too ashamed to share and therefore she has never been able to heal from it.  I’ve been thinking about how easy it would have been to teach the seminars and not share one personal experience.  That lady would have listened and left the same as she was when she came in. I allowed God to lead me in what I shared in those classes and because I followed Him and opened myself up He used my past hurts to show this lady she could trust me with her secret and for that I am forever grateful.

 

Romans 8:28 says, “and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  I am a firm believer in this passage of scripture because time and time again I have seen God use the hurts in my life for good.

 

The next time you sense God is leading you to share something personal with someone, just remember it could be to allow that person to know they are not alone.

SURRENDER

For the past couple of weeks the word “surrender” has constantly been on my mind.  I've thought about it and what it means. I knew that God was the one telling me to surrender but at first I did not understand because I had already surrendered my life to him 5 years ago.  So, I searched to find other reason as to why this word was consuming my mind.  I talked to a couple people about it, read stuff about it and listened to songs about it. 

God finally showed me that there is a specific situation that I've been holding onto for a while now and it’s time to surrender it to Him.  When He first showed me this my first thought was, “I’m not giving this to Him, I can handle it better on my own.”  After that the thought of surrendering the situation made me feel anxiety and fear.  It wasn't long after that the thought of surrendering made me hurt.  While talking about this with a friend, God showed me that surrendering the situation does not mean that I ignore what happened or act like everything is all better.  It simply means I am giving the situation to Him and I am allowing Him to help me rather than doing it on my own.    My focus is on Him and not the situation itself.  Since then He has reminded me that His ways are greater than my own.  When I am too weak to walk or fight a battle He remains strong and gives me the strength that I need to win the war!

What is it that you are holding on to?  Are you ready to surrender it to the Lord and allow Him to help you?  He is waiting with arms wide open!