...He has done for me

I have to admit that for about a week now, my heart has been too bitter to allow me to function properly. I spent the week in hiding, pretty much refusing much social contact. Jesus was working on my heart, and I wasn't allowing it to cause me pain. I hardened my heart. And then last night God showed up in the most unexpected way, at the most unexpected time. I had plans to hang out with a friend of mine that I have known for a while now, and yet never spent one-on-one time with before. We felt it was time, and we made a dinner date. God had bigger plans.

After we ate, we went to grab some dessert before we were going to head back to her apartment and watch a movie. As we were waiting on our dessert, we discovered that we had never really traded life stories, even though we knew bits and pieces about each other, and we thought maybe last night would be a good time for that. We both figured we could accomplish this within about half an hour. We were so wrong. As she began to talk first, I made it a point to practice my listening skills, and became very interested in what she had to say about how God had brought her to this point in her life. She definitely had some surprises for me, but it wasn't until I began to share, too, that the walls were really torn down for both of us and Jesus entered in and joined us at the picnic table we were sharing.

It wasn't until about four months ago that I realized how powerful it is when people are real. I mean the vulnerable, fearless, holding nothing back kind of real. This has never been a strong point for me, because I have major trust issues and my secrets aren't even common knowledge amongst my closest friends. But as I sat talking with this precious friend of mine last night, something in my heart was ready to just bear it all. Something in me told me that she deserved the whole story, complete with the heartaches and pain and darkness. So I shared, and I left no parts out. And as we sat and talked, I realized so much that I had never known about myself and what I've come through and how much my perspective has changed. I found myself realizing God's purposes for some of the things I have been through, and I started to see how strong He has formed my faith to be through the struggles. I was suddenly aware of how much my heart has changed, and how much I have grown. It was beautiful.

As we were nearing the end of my story, I felt compelled to talk about the search for healing that I have been on for a few months now. I often am pretty convinced that I am not the only person walking around desperate for the healing that only Jesus can bring. Last night as I found myself able to be real about my pain, it offered the freedom for my friend to do the same. And there is so much power, so much healing, in being able to share true pain with another. We were able to bring out secrets long hidden that had hardened out hearts, and made us cold. We were able to ask for healing, and find life again. We were able to ask Jesus into the dark places, even though He had been there all along. We found light. We found warmth. And we found freedom.

Tonight as I sat down to spend some time with Jesus, I was reminded of the David Crowder song "Come and Listen". I realized that last night, that was what the conversation all about. Come and listen to what Jesus has done in my life, and allow me to come and listen to what He has done in yours. We have power in our stories, because we have allowed the power of Jesus to change our hearts, change our minds, and change our perspective. Sometimes we forget this, and sometimes we don't know how far we've come or why we've been through what we've been through until we allow ourselves to be real with another, and let the walls fall down. Praise God for his sovereignty in what He allows us to walk through, praise God for healing, and praise God for freedom found only through Him.

Praise our God, for He is good.
He has done for me. He has done for you. He has done for us.