The Secret Place

https://youtu.be/JeHYZ5Bd5gs?si=ueuI7ulTvabYOq0o

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
~Psalm 91:1-2~

Healing is the moving-forward of forgiveness,
embracing the promise that our hearts will be bound up;
that is, stitched, sutured, sewn, sealed, strengthened.
God provides closure, healing us “inside and out.”
~Shelley Cramm~
https://www.gardenindelight.com/the-lord-heals-planting-chamomile/

How do we offer up the confusion and pain in our lives as fragrant acts of worship? What do we do with the hurts that still hurt? Like flotsam, grievances, rejections, criticisms and other emotional baggage float around my mental space like maritime wreckage, to the degree that it looks like I collect all these as a hobby. It takes intentional investment of time and thoughtful energy to clean up the collective hurts and render them back to God; but His desire is for us to move forward in forgiveness and live free of those burdens. As believers, our minds can be transformed and our spirits renewed, becoming more like Christ (Romans 12:2). He sees the hurt that my heart still holds on to, the confusion that circumstances in life leave me feeling; but, as I set it on the altar and allow Him to burn it as a fragrant incense, He softens my spirit to bring freedom and healing in my life.

I want to be a safe person for others to approach and share their burdens, to be able to provide a “Just right response.” In this, however, I am also responsible for the health of my soul. Like the proverbial airplane instructions, we are to mask up before helping others don their masks. I need to make certain that I do not take on the responsibility of spiritual triage, but direct others to God, along with the sorrows, grievances, and accusations that can be inappropriately projected. I am still learning how to grow healthy boundaries, and I need to take care lest I misinterpret the frustrations and disappointments from others that can spill out from their own toxic wounds and stressed margins of life; yet my learning and growth does not come through avoiding conflict, nor is maturity developed without a cost. To partner with God in bringing light to the dark places in the world does not mean we avoid the brokenness, but we need to keep in step with His Spirit and respond to conflict in a way that would represent Jesus well.

Easier said than done for us, but is not this just what our Abba Father does for us? He provides a “just right response.” He enables us to respond to conflict in a way that would represent Jesus well. Where we are to take ownership for any confusion we may have contributed to, we need to ask for discernment so that we not take on the agitation the world or others around us would toss at us. Isaiah 43 reminds us that Jesus is “making a way in the wilderness” of the emotional baggage and “streams in the wasteland.” He is with us. He will “do the thing” and we have but to relax our breath, exhale our tensions, unclench our worries, cast our cares on Him. He orders our steps.

He takes me “to the secret place where everything fades away; There’s nothing I long for, nothing I need more than you…Your love is my covering…You will restore my strength, my joy will come back again. There’s nothing I long for and nothing I need more than You. You are my refuge, my comfort through the night My safety, my rescue, in the shelter of most high You keep me in perfect peace in the shadow of your wings.”

Today is a new day, Father God. Help me master the tumultuous emotions within and roll them over onto you, and cultivate peace within, under the shadow of your wings, the centered rest of Christ, not tossed about by the agitation and flotsam around me.

“The humble person would never be hurt particularly badly by criticism.
It would not devastate them, it would not keep them up late.”
~Timothy Keller~

“When you walk in emotional humility,
you’ll give space for God to do His own work.”
~Hannah Anderson~
Humble Roots, p.111

Heal so that you can hear what is being said
without the filter of your wounds.
~Dr. Thema~