This is my Garden of Gethsemane
I wrote this a couple years ago, but have never shared it on my blog. I’m at another one of these points, so I thought it was time to revisit it.
“It’s okay to hurt.”
Sometimes I wish that would be the first response I get from people when I’m struggling with something in life. It’s the answer I hope I can give to others when they confide in me. Because I think in our attempt to fix situations and make people feel better and even sometimes in our attempt to have a Christlike perspective on things, we can forget that’s it is ok to hurt. It’s easy to give what can seem like cliché answers.
Yes, there are times when we need the truth spoken to us because we can get ourselves into little pity parties, but hurt is part of the healing process. For me it’s not that I don’t believe the answers people tell me or think they’re cop-outs. It’s that deep inside I believe those things more than anything and am holding onto them for survival. I don’t want to hear them because I don’t need to hear them. And they aren’t going to change to situation at the moment.
I am reminded of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was handed over to be crucified. This passage gives us perhaps one of the deepest looks in the human side of Jesus. The scripture says Jesus fell to His face and was in so much anguish that He sweated drops of blood. He didn’t want to be crucified! Yet He said, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
I think we all have Garden of Gethsemane moments in our lives. Those times when we don’t think we can survive what God is calling us to do. Those cups He asks us to drink that don’t taste very good. We know deep in our hearts that God has a plan and that He is in control and that what is happening will be for the best in the end. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. And it doesn’t mean we don’t want to turn around and run the other way or shake our fists and ask why. I find comfort in knowing that I’m not alone in this. Jesus had to face something more horrible and painful than most of us can imagine: a brutal crucifixion death. Even though He knew He had to do it and even though He wanted to do it so that we could be saved, it was still the hardest thing He ever did.
So I think it’s ok to struggle with what we are called to do. What God asks of us can be painful and threaten to cripple us. But we can look to Jesus’ example . As much as it hurt Him, He was still willing to do the will of the Father. So as we are hurting and questioning, we need to have one hand clinging onto God and His promises. In the midst of our anguish, we need to step out on faith and face what God has called us to. The Word says that as Jesus was praying, an angel from heaven came and strengthened Him. I believe that when we surrender ourselves as Jesus did, God’s strength, peace, and comfort will come to us as well.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 6 so far )
