When I was in nurse’s training (a very long time ago….), we had an instructor who had served in the military. Miss Mary Mason. And every time we needed to clear the hall for an oncoming patient, she’d sharply call out, “Flatten agin the wall. Flatten agin the wall!” Simply stated, “Make way! Clear the way! Don’t be in the way!”
In reflecting this morning, that’s how we feel sometimes in life….like we’re the ones who’ve been flattened…run over…and left for dead in whatever it is that mowed us over…and we don’t feel like we’ve got the energy or “want to“, to lift our head, let alone get up and try it again. We are down for the count, and we see no way out…every direction looks impossible.
May I share with you an experience and then some scripture? You know, maybe you’re not that person…but you know someone who is….Whoever it is needs Hope that only the Lord can provide.
The reason I want to share a personal experience is because it is easy to look at the writer and think, “What do you know? You’ve never been in my situation.”
One of my primary purposes in this blog is to be transparent in my writing…and in so doing…that the Glory of God would be evident….And I pray the love of Jesus and His Hope to transform your heart and mind this day.
It was the summer of 1990, and I was inpatient at the Minirth-Meier Psych. Unit in Naperville, IL…It was a locked unit…One evening, something happened that I cannot explain…but another resident had shared something…and it was as if my emotions stepped onto an elevator and I went to the bottom floor…As I did, everything else began to fade…I could not distinguish anything that was more than about 2 feet in front of my face…My nurse led me into the padded room…I think I was sobbing…into a blackness that had no end…a black hole…no end in sight…just the overwhelming sense of loss in my life that would not go away…the losses that I’d been running from my whole life…I looked up once..and could only make out the feet of our unit director, Dr. Verle Bell, and our head nurse…They spoke…I couldn’t comprehend what they said…At some point, my nurse led me back to my room…I can only tell you that if I were to put an age to my feelings, I’d would’ve been 2 or under…no words…My nurse tucked me into bed and kissed me on the forehead.
Morning came…the black hole was still there…There seemed no way out…and I wasn’t sure anymore if I wanted to try…
They say, “When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”….Well, I couldn’t find the rope; much less tie a knot in it; much less have the strength to hang on….I had let go and was free-falling into nowhere…
What I didn’t know at the time is that nowhere has a bottom…and it is called His Everlasting Arms and that Hope Has a Name - Jesus Christ….He didn’t come to me to scold me and ask, “Where’s your faith?”….No, He came to me and held out His hand…”Crista, take My hand…and I will lead you out….”
Now, I’m here to tell you that that’s faith…Just taking His hand IS faith! He says to us today, “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John 14:6)…When we don’t know the way out of the black pit, He does.
For there is no God like Jehovah. “For when we are faithless, He is faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Tim. 2:13)
And underneath are the everlasting arms~ “There is none like God, O Jeshurun [Israel], Who rides through the heavens to your help and in His majestic glory through the skies. The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He drove the enemy before you and thrust them out, saying, Destroy!”
Maybe you’re too worn out to take His hand…then just know, that He’s kneeling down to take yours…
His love is from everlasting to everlasting….and nothing shall separate you from His love….He is not a man that He should lie, and He is no respecter of persons.
Let’s close with these words from the Lord through the Apostle Paul: “Who shall ever separate us from Christ’s love?…”…”For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 37-38)
“Lord Jesus…today, I will let you take my hand…because I can’t do this by myself. I don’t know my way out of this blackness…But I will let You lead me, because You’re the Only One Who knows the way out.
Thank You.”
And in the words of our unit director, Dr. Bell….”I can’t. He can. Therefore, I move my pieces.”
“…but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
“…to give them beauty for the ashes…” Isaiah 61:3
….To make the Valley of Achor (Trouble) a door of Hope…. Hosea 2:15
Hope has a Name, and His Name is Jesus Christ…and underneath are His everlasting arms.~
God bless you, dear hearts.
Ever yours in Christ,
Crista (CMSimmons52@aol.com)
http://dinnerwiththeking.blogspot.com
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