Tuesday, May 18, 2010

A badge of honor once redeemed


Miraculously, God can bring good from any bad! And He's always wanting to and willing and able if we'll let Him! He's the Redeemer that came to Save! Or the Savior that came to Redeem! Both! And either way... miraculous!

He's the bringer of beauty from ashes... gladness from mourning.... a garment of praise from a spirit of despair! He can make anything a planting of His for the Display of His Splendor! There's nothing that Jesus hasn't overcome. "In Me you may have peace! In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!"
A friend wrote to me after the rape of her daughter, "Ugh! I hate the shame of rape! HATE it! HATE it! I want her healed!"

ARGH! I hate it too!

I hate lots of things that have gone on that I wish had not! LOTS! LOTS! We live in a crooked world, and just get knocked crooked a whole lot of times on the paths of our journey. We choose crooked, or crooked chooses us..... either way, we often end up knocked crooked and having to deal with it. Fair or not, it's the fallen world that we live in. Torn ligaments are painful to walk on after the tear; broken bones need healing, wounds need tending, hearts need mending, bruises HURT because there's been bleeding underneath the skin..... (just to name a few!).

Isn't it amazing how many wounds there are that can't be seen to the naked eye, yet causes the one wounded to hobble or to walk handicapped or funny-looking without obvious reasons to the person observing them?

Some wear a frown and a furrowed brow. Some snarl and growl. Some bite and hit. Some smile, wearing the disguise, yet carrying inside them an: I'm-crying-inside-but-nobody-knows-it-but-me heart. Some lick their wounds and nurse it their entire lifetime, rocking its sorrow and singing the tune of its blues. Some laugh, but it's fake and loud in its attempt to cover. Some dare another person to get close to it, and snap in attempts to bite them if they try to. Some dress the wounds while constantly picking the scab to make it bleed. Some run like crazy, bursting it open again and again at their crazed incited accident-waiting-to-happen lunacy.

Few, only a few (out of so very many), will take it to The Great Physician Himself and allow Him to wash it and clean it, stitch it and sew it, anoint it and dress it, bandage it and tend to it until its completely and totally healed... leaving the "few" to wear it as a testimony to the King! The scar still shines (after healed) as its 'Purple Heart Medallion,' its medal of honor pin, testifying to a soldier wounded in battle by the hands of the enemy, but outstanding in honor for the soldier's valor, his combat in the fight, his bravery to do what must be done for victory to come. Oh, these "few" may walk with their limp, but(!) they'll walk with their heads held high, with security in their steps, with joy in their hearts, peace in their minds, and smiles on their faces that bear the marks of a resurrected life because of the one they left behind and chose not to swim in for the rest of their days appointed on this earth. They'll choose to live for the next life, and not die daily in their this one.

I know this girl that was horrible and shamefully taken advantage of in the ugliest and unacceptable of ways. It'll be hard, it'll be a battle, but she'll wear her badge, her "purple heart," to display and honor her King. She'll fight for freedom that's never free and find it. Because she'll walk with her Savior and allow Him to ransom, redeem, and restore it. She'll have a choice and I know which she'll chose. "Oh death, where is your sting?"

I will be all over this in prayer!! I'm sure satan thinks he's won, but he hasn't, and he won't! I'll pray! and I'll ask the mightiest warriors I know to join me in prayer! Through Him she WILL beat this thing! May she hang on tight for the duration of the fight. Battles are never fun! We often find ourselves wounded in the battle, we may bleed, we may hurt, we may cry, we may feel defeated, we may feel we've lost one round...but the war's not over yet! Warning (as if you did not already know), it's a fight! Fighting's never fun! Battles are often long... but the victory's been won! May she be strong in HIM! May she totally find her strength in GOD, for no man (person) can be our strength, nor give us the strength we need. We're to Be Strong IN His mighty power! He had the power to raise Jesus Christ from the dead, and He tells us (Eph 1) that that same power that raised Him up lives inside us! He gives us the strength we need, because the strength we need is within us. HIM! He is in us!!! We can't win this alone, but we CAN win this with God! It might seem impossible, we might not can figure out the how-in-the-world how to(?) ... but we must believe Him when He says, "With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." And that: "ALL things work together for good for those that love the Lord." Either it's true or it's not, and He says it's true! He is Truth! Do we believe Him?

This YUCK will be a testimony to God one day, with her telling others what He can do. God will redeem and use it to His glory. The enemy will hate he ever messed with this girl! I believe that!

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