I learned something pretty amazing about the heart of God
this week that I simply | MUST | share with you! It comes from a verse in Exodus. The Israelites had just been delivered
from Pharaoh’s army, but within days, they lost faith in God and began
grumbling again. The Lord said to His people,
The word Hebrew word for heals in this scripture is raphah, which means to mend by
stitching, repair thoroughly, make whole.
The Lord takes our broken pieces and literally STITCHES them back
together to make us whole again.
Take a moment to just soak that in.
The first thing that came to my mind was my grandma (pictured
above). She is quite a talented
seamstress and loves to do counted cross-stitch in her spare time. I have watched her spend hours on this labor
of love. I say labor because counted
cross-stitch is intense! She invests time in selecting the exact shade of
string that she needs in a given section. She gathers the fabric in her hands,
shines a light directly on it, and then precisely counts the tiny squares on
the fabric to make sure she is sewing in just the right spot. She then does
this over… and over… and over. It seems tedious, but she has a vision. It’s
hard to predict the end result from the tiny details. Yet, after many hours of
this intimate experience with the fabric, a beautiful piece of artwork emerges.
We can all step back and see her vision
come to fruition. And it is magnificent.
My favorite cross-stitch from my Grandma, based on The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.
I love this imagery because it reminds me that God actively
pursues an intimate, up close, and personal encounter with us! To sew us back together, He must literally hold
us in His hands and focus intently on every detail. It takes a vision. It takes
time. It takes precision. It takes…
gulp… a NEEDLE!
The process of healing often hurts. We must remember that with every painful penetration, His
intentions are to heal us properly and make us whole again. For the process to
go more smoothly, we must allow our hearts and our spirits to be pliable in His
hands.
Is God trying to heal an area in your life? Have you fully submitted to His authority so that He can properly stitch you back together? I am ready to be pliable in my Savior's hands, receptive to His vision for my life. I can't wait to see what beautiful art He will create with our lives when we give Him full reign the Lord of our EVERYTHING!
Now it's YOUR turn!
- - - - - - - - - -
- Write a blog post that includes a scripture, song, or experience that has stirred your faith this week.
- Link up below.
- Leave a comment on at least 2 people before you in the link-up.
This link up will go live every Wednesday. (I am doing this to challenge myself to stay in the Word even though the school year is always super busy!) Feel free to join in as often as you would like
Ooh, I love the way you bring the image of being repaired by God to life! This part, "He must literally hold us in His hands and focus intently on every detail. It takes a vision. It takes time." can be both wonderful and scary!
ReplyDelete