To the One Whose Life Looks Different Than Expected…
To the one whose life looks different than they expected…
I see you. I see how you show up for yourself and those around you despite the heavy burden that aches inside of you at the thought of an incomplete and un-whole life. I see the weight of stagnant desires and unanswered prayers. I see how you embrace and celebrate the friend who just got handed your deepest dream. I see the lonely walks searching for an ounce of hope to keep you going and I hear the hymns being sung even though somewhere deep down you wonder if they’re true.
I’m here to remind you that the journey always looks different than we expected and your questions don't scare the LORD…
Did you know the woman with the issue of blood had a name? It was Veronica “she who brings victory or true image.” We know her by her issue. Can you imagine each new day that she woke up still bleeding; her physical reminder of defeat and the contradiction to her name?
Yet one day, more than likely burned out on hoping for a miracle, she found herself pushing through crowds of hundreds of people with the hope of just touching the hem of His robe…
What I am trying to say is her neediness was her superpower. With every reason to anchor herself in loneliness and bitter theology, she knew that she knew that she knew, if she could just push through the barrier of hundreds of people (all with issues and needs of their own), and she could get to the hem of his robe, MAYBE JUST MAYBE, that would be enough.
Neediness is a magnet, the mitochondria of our spirit if you will. And without it, faith can’t function. And with it, we bow down low and find ourselves so close to Jesus, just a reach will do… I have a feeling that as Veronica sat around the fire in her old age telling her grandchildren the story of her life, she wouldn’t have changed a thing…
Because that’s the thing; though our lives look different than we expected and we are fighting battles that don’t feel fair and the tragedy of disease is enough to consume us whole, the mere fact that just one touch changes everything is enough to keep us going.
To the one whose life looks different than they expected, you’re not alone in it, I promise.