Last Friday I shared about my lowest point in my life and how God has wondrously healed me. But for a long time I carried around regrets. If I only could have seen it coming. If I only had not married him in the first place. If I only…. you get the picture.
But then God taught me that he can use everything for his glory. Like Mary DeMuth writes in her new Everything book “Jesus wastes none of our stories, even our tales of woe. He transforms them into epic adventures where we dare to face our past for the sake of our present.”
We are not to regret our past. We are to give it to God. He can do so many wonderful things with it. It’s needed to make us what God wants us to be. Don’t you believe it? Read on.
This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality! (1 Cor. 15:42-44, MSG, emphasis added)
When we give our dead, rotten things to God to be buried, he resurrects something amazingly beautiful. We can’t do it. But God can. This is what resurrection living is all about. Death is not what it seems because of Christ. Our messy lives are not an obstacle for God. Because God is in business of renewal. He wants to give us a far better life than we could ever live on our own.
Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. (2 Cor. 5:14-15, MSG, emphasis added)
We don’t need to be hold hostage by guilt or regrets or sin or pain. “God uses injury in the past as the very means to bring us into new phases of growth”, Mary DeMuth writes. When we dare to face our past hurts and lay them down to God, we are practicing our faith. When we exercise our freedom in Christ by giving our burdens to God, we are growing in grace.
We are meant to be resurrected with Christ.
We are meant to be made whole in Christ.
We are meant to live freely in grace.
The only way to grow and glow is through resurrection. Jesus is the only way we can live authentic lives. Mary De Muth writes: “Growth happens solely from the inside out. We can’t decorate our outsides, creating impeccable facades, feigning growth. Our hearts must first be healed by the only One who can heal, and then our splendor will radiate from within. Then the growth will flourish. But we can’t have it the other way around.” We can’t fake growth. Only God can resurrect us. But how gloriously he does it!
He [Jesus] was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. (Col.1:18-20, MSG, emphasis added)
There’s nothing God can’t fix. You are not beyond help. With Mary DeMuth’s words “Surrender your heart, your life, your will to Him. Let Him have His healing way with you. Hold tightly to His hand. Then wait in anticipation for the healing, the new vista, the renewed life, the genuine growth.”
Gracious God,
We bring to you
ourselves and our burdens,
all our hurts, mistakes, regrets.
Use them for your glory,
create something beautiful
out of ashes of our lives.
Plant us into a good soil,
resurrect us into life and more life.
Give us patience to wait to see growth.
Enable us to live freely in your grace.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
P.S. I’ve been selected to be part of Mary DeMuth’s launch team for Everything and I will be blogging through the book before the release date in October, using the book as a spring-board for blog posts. If you are interested in reading yourself the first two chapters before the book is available in the stores, you can get them through this link. And if you’re thinking about pre-ordering the book…wait a couple of weeks…there will be fun extra freebies coming along if you pre-order on a certain day. I will keep you posted!
Q4U: Have you experienced resurrection from your past?
Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you live freely in Christ!
Image courtesy of Natanis Davidsen. Linking up today with Thought-Provoking Thursdays and Faith Filled Friday.
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