Sometimes, we have to move away physically for our hearts to heal.
At other times, we just stay on but let our hearts move on in forgiveness.
Sometimes the pain goes away.
At other times we learn to live victoriously in spite of the pain.
We can’t run away from every monster in life. Sometimes you have to kill that monster and take back your treasure.
Yes, that is what Christmas means to me this year; a season for emotional healing.
This because this year, this particular Christmas season, God has led me to help so many people who are in bondage because of past hurts and wounds incurred in the past.
I have had to help people get up from the fall of financial bankruptcy, disappointments in relationships, broken homes, family strife, divorce and the trauma caused by shameful experiences of the past.
What is your own story? Have you been abused, ostracized, rejected, hated, ridiculed and insulted?
Do not give up on life, there are still good people out there. Do not give up on yourself, you still have much to give out to the world. Do not give up on God, because He will never give up on you.
Yes, someone hurt you in the past. But they do not deserve that you continue suffering for their sake. Face that pain squarely and tell it ” I’m not letting you kill me…I’m bigger than this…I’m not done with life yet…”
Do not take that hurt into the new year. I challenge you to lay it down at the feet of your Savior, Jesus. Dare to speak out…share it with someone who cares. It will lift off some of the pain. Face that person and tell them what they did wasn’t right. If they acknowledge it, good, if not, you would have taken a load off your chest.
Just do something about it.
Shalom, Gretiana
If you’ve never been there, then you’re never going to really understand what is at stake in their life; so why not just pray for them and leave it at that?
Why not just hold back that comment and observe instead?
They may not be as complacent as you think.
They may be spending sleepless nights over it.
They may be in the middle of a fast because of it.
They might have begged God a hundred times to take that thing away.
Perhaps they’ve got their lessons to learn;
Perhaps it’s a thorn in their flesh they have to live with;
Perhaps their faith is being tried;
Perhaps….God alone knows why.
Do not put that label on them;
Do not make that conclusion you are about to make;
Do not judge, categorize and condemn.
Rather, ask from God the wisdom and discernment to see beyond the physical,
Then you may begin to understand what they are having to endure.
Admire people who have been through a lot and still keep their head up. Head Up! Even though you are going through a tough time. This is a must attitude during healing journey. Image credit : Pixabay – PublicDomainPictures
December 13th; a long awaited day; an anticipated day. How I longed to join the list of my predecessors who had sat on tables and signed out book; their books, their own creation, a piece of themselves given out to the readership.
The day came and went, but alas! New reality was about to hit me in the face.
I love meeting with God outdoors. The trees, the flowers, the butterflies, the green grass, the fresh breeze…there’s something about these that just draw me so close to my Maker, my Creator.
But on this fateful day I wasn’t basking in His love as usual. I wasn’t sitting there, awe-stricken by the beauty of His creation. I was looking for something to hold onto. I was worried. I needed validation from the one in whose name I’d done what I did.
“Lord, are you also ashamed of me?”
“Why are they looking at me like that? Why are my friends avoiding me? Why the weird look on their faces? Why are they “unfriending” me on Face book? Why do my own family relations desire to ask me questions after reading those books, Lord?
Did I say things that hurt them? Did I give away too much of myself? Was I too transparent? Lord, why are they ashamed to identify with me now?
Lord, are you also ashamed of me? Are you ashamed of me because I said too much about the messes, failures, frailties and struggles of my past?
I wish I hadn’t added that little detail. I wish I’d kept this one secret. How I hate myself for having talked about that thing I did. I shouldn’t have exposed what they did to me”
Genuinely speaking, I was full of regret about lots of things I’d said in those books.
The great testimonies I got from some of my readers couldn’t compensate for the strange reactions I was receiving from close friends and relations. I was beaten down by shame and regret. I’d given away too much and it was too late to take it back.
At least that’s how I felt that day.
I really thought God must be very ashamed of me for exposing my past messiness and bringing dishonor to His HOLY NAME.
Then, came the lever out of hell. These are the words I wrote in my journal that day:
“What matters to me is not the size of my bank account, how beautiful and admired I am, how accepted I am. What matters to me is making a difference in people’s lives.
What is the use of having a bank account that’s full to the brim or a spotless name when you can’t give hope to desperate people around you? I won’t hold back or run now? I won’t fear to speak out. I can’t disown my past.
My past is my ministry and my ministry is my past. To disown my past is to disown my ministry and I can’t do that. I’ll rather be rejected and ostracized than shut up and watch people perish.
God has called me to use my past as a message to pull people out of their mess. I’m proud to be a world-changer, a person whose contribution is making the world a better place for us all”.
The Lord spoke to me. He held me in His arms and told me He was proud of me because I’d accepted to lay down my pride, dignity and name for the lost. It’s a sacrifice, a bitter and embarrassing sacrifice. It’s not easy but it’s worth it.
Jesus showed us the example by accepting the shame of the CROSS. Will you lay down your name, fame, gain, pride and dignity in order to put a smile on that tear-stained face?
God is asking you today.
I choose to walk away
Away from the past, its hurts, pains and shame
I choose to walk away from the choices I made in the past
Choices that seemed so logical and beneficial
I opt for change, the willingness to embrace the future I do not yet see
I choose to part with my own understanding, the one that let me into that mess
I will depart from myself, the self that I trusted but got disappointed.
I’ve discovered a new me, a me that so pleases me
And I won’t let anything take that away from me.
When you’ve been abused, mistreated, used and dumped
It takes courage, the willingness to forgive
And the desire to live again
To give out your heart another time.
That’s why we must never exert pressure on people
To open up their hearts to us.
We deserve openness and genuineness in every relationship
But we must give people the time to change,
To heal and to willingly open up again.
Trying to force it out of them can be counter productive
NO matter how much you love them and want to be with them
Just be gentle enough to let them loosen up naturally and at a pace
That is comfortable for them.
They may really be in love,
But still needing time to get on the rails
Do not be impatient when they seem reticent
Let the rose unfold naturally.
Love and Blessing, Gretiana
You do not have to accept that tag, that label, that name life has given you.
You can shake it off and get for yourself one that fits your taste and that looks like what you want to be called.
God can peel off that label for you and give you a brand new one tailored after His plan and purpose for your life.
Do not live your life behind the very label you hate. Shake it off. You deserve better than that.
When you think of the past you are full of shame, regret, anger and bitterness. You try not to think about it.
If you currently find yourself in this condition, you are in need of emotional healing. You can’t go on like that. That is not how life was meant to be for you.
One day Jesus saw a man who had been sitting near a pool for 38 years waiting for and expecting healing from God. Everybody knew about him and no one did try to help him out. Everybody seemed to think that somehow, there was nothing wrong in him being there. He had become a part of the natural décor of that environment; it had become normal to see him there year after year and decade after decade.
Then one day something different happened to him. Jesus showed up, gave him an instruction and his story changed. “Glory to God, a notable miracle has happened. Our God has done it again…” This should have been the reaction of the leaders of the church. They should have been happy to see another testimony pointing to the greatness of God. No! They had other priorities at heart.
“Why are you carrying your bed on the Sabbath? Why did that man heal you on the Sabbath?”
It is like that prostitute who goes to church feeling so depressed…more depressed than the state of her dress; but then all we can see is her short skirt and heavy make-up. We then fail to appreciate a notable miracle; the fact that someone like that has made up their mind to stop running away from God.
I like the response the man gave to the Pharisees when they desired to know why he was crying his bed on the Sabbath.
“He who made me well said to me, ‘take up your bed and walk (John 5:11).’
I don’t know who has been breathing down the back of your neck and giving you five reasons why you shouldn’t be doing what you are doing. “As long as you live in my house, it is unlawful for you to pray. You are a former drug-addict and I won’t let you see my daughter; you used to be a sex worker, I can’t attend your church; you got born into the wrong family, you can’t have a break in life…”
This is my encouragement to you. Look at them in the face and say…”He who saved me told me I could make it…He who rescued me from the pit said to me ‘you are fearfully and wonderfully made…’”
At the end of the day, it’s not about pleasing men; it’s about doing the will of God and making it to heaven.
Leviticus chapter 16 records the events of the Day of Atonement as commanded by God to Moses and then to the High Priest. Aaron, who was the High Priest at that time, was required to enter the holiest place of the tabernacle once a year to offer blood for the atonement of the sins of Israel. Come to think of it. It happened just once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month.
Can you imagine the impatience, anxiety and unease in the camp of Israel as they bore their sins on their minds waiting for the day God will finally accept their repentance? They waited, prayed, and longed for their load to be lifted off their soldiers so that they can be relieved. How they must have waited for the Day of Atonement.
When it finally came, they all gathered before God to have their burdens lifted off their backs. At last, they were free, holy and acceptable before God. It is against this background that we can understand the impact of what Christ did for us on the cross of Calvary. What an excellent joy to know that under the new covenant, we do not need to wait for a Day of Atonement.
Christ offered up a sacrifice of himself once and for all (Hebrews 7:27). When he cried “It is finished”, I became holy, righteous and acceptable before God provided I lay a claim to the finished work of Calvary (John 1:12). I am already forgiven.
I do not need to wait for a particular day in which I will be worthy to ask of healing, deliverance, blessing and the like. It has become my permanent and everlasting possession all thanks to Christ’s once and for all sin offering. Am I not blessed?
The new covenant is really far better than the old (Heb. 8:6-8).
THE HEALING ARENA 
Written
on June 17, 2016