I sat on a picnic table in the middle of the church with my beautiful friend, Paula. Tears filled her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. For reasons that she couldn’t explain she just began to open up on this particular day. We started talking about her recent reconciliation with her boyfriend, but quickly moved into the deep hurts of her heart: how she has been handling her father’s death, her strained relationship with her mom, the affect of living with her sister and her sister’s abusive husband, how alone she feels in her life, etc. The words just spilled forth endlessly. Every so often Paula would stop and ask my advice. “What’s your opinion? What should I do?”
These are all situations that she has no control to change. She wanted advice on how to fix all of these things, but the hard truth is that sometimes you can’t do anything to change your situation. However, the one thing I knew that could change is the constant ache of unhealed wounds that she is carrying in her heart. As she was talking I was praying, inviting the Holy Spirit to speak, to open my eyes to what she really needed. The Lord kept speaking “She can’t change her situations, but she can walk through them with a healed heart. She needs to invite me to work.â€�
I talked to Paula about the way we build up walls in our hearts trying to protect those hurt places in our hearts. And yes, those walls will keep those wounded spots from being touched, but they also keep the Lord’s love at bay and they do not allow the pain to escape. The result is that we carry this pain around every moment of every day and spend our lives trying to numb this throbbing ache in our hearts. Paula just nodded recognizing this is her own heart. I told her about another way…
I told Paula that she cannot dismantle the walls in her own heart, but that she can give the Lord permission to enter into the deep places of her heart. He asks for our permission to work and then asks us to follow Him into our pain. It can be a terrifying journey to actually confront the pain that you have been hiding from, but it is the only road to healing. As we follow the Lord into the dark, hidden corners of our hearts, we will feel the full weight of our pain. However, as we sit in this pain for a moment we will begin to hear something else rise above the overwhelming ache. It is the loving whisper of our Father as He brings His truth and love to these wounds. This is how we are healed. It is a frightening thing to enter your woundedness, but IT IS WORTH THE RISK because healing awaits on the other side of this road. Amazing things happen in our lives when we stop hiding and invite the Holy Spirit to move about freely in our hearts.
When the Spirit Shows Up…
- There
is freedom - Walls
are broken - Relationships
are reconciled - Forgiveness
flows - Fear
must flee - Healing
Springs Forth - Things
come into right alignment - Redemption
comes where it is needed - Things
begin to change - Truth
is clearly displayed - Peace,
joy, & tuaniness abound - There
is LIFE abundant
When the Spirit Shows Up I…
- Recognize
myself - Fall down in worship
- Am
filled with joy - Rest
in His peace - Cannot
contain myself - Feel
the Lord’s lavish love - Am
completely alive- body, soul, & spirit - Am
healed in the deepest parts of my heart - Surrender control of my heart and my life to the God who loves me with abandon
It
all begins with a single step… Invite the Lord. Give Him permission to enter
into the deep places in your heart. Our God is a gentleman who will not force
His way into an unwilling heart. He knocks and He waits. The Bible says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20).
Paula admitted that she is still terrified to enter fully into her pain, even if healing is awaiting her.
So we prayed for courage. Courage risk pain in order to find healing. Courage to invite the Lord more deeply into her heart. Courage to follow Him into her wounds. As much as I would like to, I cannot make this decision for her. She must decide for herself that she wants the Lord’s best for her life. She must decide to give up her “control” over her hurts and trust the Lord to heal her pain. I don’t know what she will decide, but I am placing her in the Lord’s loving hands. And I’m asking you to join me in praying for her. Please continue to pray for my beautiful friend. Pray for her healing, first of her own heart and then flowing outward into reconciliation of the broken relationships in her life, particularly within her family.
*Thanks to my brothers and sisters in Christ here at New Song and at Living Water Church in Boone, NC who helped me compile this list of things that happen when the Holy Spirit shows up. I love being able to share my life and this ministry with people who love the Lord wholeheartedly and long to walk in His Spirit daily!
Read more of Paula’s story: God’s Merciful Thwarting & On the Path to Healing
(1) i love how Christ shines through you my dear sister!
(2) i’ll pray for Paula and i know she’ll make the right decision in His good timing
(3) i know you talked about me to that team from Boone…haha
Lisa, I will be praying for Paula. I am continually amazed (I don’t realy know why because it keeps on happening) by the amount of spiritual wisdom that God has given you at such a tender young age. Continue to use it wisely.
Love, Dad
So gald these young women have you in their life!!!
Praying for Paula and for you. Love watching God work through you to impart His wisdom and His love to His hurting children.
Love you!!!
Mom
Lisa,
Thank you for sharing this story. It really ministered to me too. I will definitely keep you and Paula in my thoughts and prayers. God is so gentle and what a great idea to pray for courage! It does take guts to invite the Lord to those broken places even if we know we will be healed in the end. Thanks for sharing! May God continue to bless you and use you!
yea this hits home with me too. thanks for sharing. love you lisa.