Our first home had two beautiful firs in the front yard that towered over our small bungalow and gave us tremendous privacy. After a few years, we decided to cut one of them down to gain more natural light. Due to my lack of knowledge about tree and stump removal, I hastily suggested that my husband just go out and “get rid of it.”
We did eventually cut down the tree with my father’s help, but much to our dismay, a rather large eyesore remained in the form of an enormous stump and exposed roots. After a few more years of being driven mad by this monstrosity, my husband finally hired a professional to properly remove it all. We had killed what we could visibly see, but quite literally, we had failed to get to the root of the problem and just “lived with it.”
We had killed what we could visibly see, but quite literally, we had failed to get to the root of the problem and just “lived with it.”
Caitlin Walker
I question if we have also become satisfied living with a certain level of spiritual acceptance. Do we operate under the belief that “this is as good as it gets” and neglect to confront the hideous stump of our past trauma and wounds? Have we forgotten that God desires to not only remove the problems we can see, but is also able to eradicate their roots?
Take, for example, the woman with the issue of blood. This unnamed lady was tirelessly proactive in her search for a physician that could cure her ailment, but she eventually came to the end of herself. After countless meetings with doctors of various sorts, I believe she finally recognized her need for supernatural power. As she crawled through the crowd that day in the dirt and dust, she encountered Jesus through the hem of His garment, forever altering her destiny. Transformative healing coursed through her body, and she was made whole (Matthew 9:22 KJV)
We do ourselves a disservice when we hold onto our hurts and allow them to define us or shape who we are. Too often we believe the lie that God is put off by the messiness of humanity. We all have endured hardships and many of us have experienced some level of trauma, but this does not keep God at bay. Our God is a God of, perhaps in our mind, upside-down thinking. When we run from the mess, He draws nearer.
We do ourselves a disservice when we hold onto our hurts and allow them to define us or shape who we are.
Caitlin Walker
Just as the woman with the issue of the blood, we must do our part in the process. Our role in this is to allow God access to the deepest parts of ourselves to fully remove the ugliness we are constantly reminded of; those secret places we have tucked away for years and tried to hide. The Bible shows us that God took utter darkness and shaped and created the heavens and the earth. Can He then not take the ashes of a broken life and create beauty?
God desires us to be spiritually whole and our emotional health is one element of the process. What a miraculous change there would be if we invited and involved God in every aspect of our life and allowed Him to work on us as body, soul, and spirit.
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