Oh, how I love the Olympics. I love the competition and witnessing humans doing seemingly unhuman tasks. I love the pageantry and beauty of it all. I love how the world seems to come together for several days all watching the same event and getting to know other cultures and nations. Mostly, I love the people- their faces, their stories and witnessing them experience emotions that have been building inside for months or years. Dreams accomplished- dreams dashed.
Last night, I like many of you was watching the woman's gymnastics for the Olympics. I watched as the full reality of Jordyn Wieber's dashed dreams hit her square in the face in front of the world. When she bowed her head and began to weep, I wept with her. Her broken heart took residence in my chest and I hurt. This momma wanted nothing more than to go to her and give her some much needed comfort. I can only imagine what her mother experienced.... after all she had witnessed the countless practices, blood, sweat, and tears that were part of the journey leading to "what should have been".
I think I was so drawn to Jordyn because I have felt loss and my dreams were dashed. When what should have been becomes what may never be. When I witness her tears, I think back to those moments in my life. Her pain and loss is real and it was for me too. I have been in places when it was so hard to see life going on in front of me when I felt the floor had fallen out from under my feet. Such loss will change us- I don't think it is possible to go through such a deep personal grief and walk away the same. I have distance from my heartbreaking moments to be able to reflect and look back- a changed perspective. Those moments that brought the deepest pain, also ushered the deepest growth in my relationship with God. The eyes that stung from crying countless tears saw things from the scriptures that I had been blinded from before. The heart, broken in grief, found healing in the love of the Father. The pride and self-sufficiency that sustained me before gave way to total dependence on the Father. My dream and purpose faded into what His dream and purpose was for me. In reflection, I am better because of the loss....
I read this quote from Beth Moore on Saturday and God kept it pricking at my heart, "With hands freshly loosed, we find liberty to embrace the one who never changes, and courage to release those who will." Life is full of change: jobs aren't secure, relationships end, diseases happen, injustices occur and the "what should have beens" seem endless. Life isn't easy and often isn't fair. If we choose to cling to earthly things or individuals, we will be disappointed. If we, however, run to the Father and embrace Him- clinging to Him with all strength- He will give you healing, peace, love and unspeakable joy again. He takes your loss and gives you life.
"May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and in his good favor gave us everlasting comforts and good hope, comfort your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do and say." 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NLT
"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 NIV
"...Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders" Deuteronomy 33:12 NIV
Friend, has the floor fallen out from under you? Did Jordyn's tears hit close to home because of the loss you are walking through right now? Take heart and cling to God. He will carry you through this and give you the strength you need today to walk through the hurt. Maybe, you remember that painful journey, but can reflect on all that God did for you through it. If so, praise Him- He did a miracle in you and deserves your praise today. We need not be bound by our past, but we must never forget to praise the Father for the works He did in freeing us from it. Today, turn to Him and look for the life in the loss.
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