God uses some of the craziest things to speak to me sometimes! And this evening in the craziness of getting everyone ready and in bed was one of those times!
Ava had gotten a purple plastic slinky at the dentist today. Side note here. I took the 7 youngest kids to the dentist by myself today. Callie was home with a stomach virus so she didn't make her appointment. Can I tell you that I didn't make it? After the three year old's complete melt down over having to pick only "one" toy from the toy chest, I sent the SOS telling John to get home ASAP! Just keeping it real! Which really just makes this message all the more relevant on some levels!
Back to the subject. Ava had chosen the purple plastic slinky as her toy at the dentist. During the bed time routine, one of the younger ones brings it to me. It is a mangled mess. I ask the deliverer of the slinky what happened. The deliverer of the slinky proceeds to tell me that said child and one of the other children broke it. I immediately thought of how heart broken Ava will be when she discovers that her prize has been demolished. I start working feverishly to untangle the mess. I twist this way. I turn that way. But no matter what I do, I can't undo it. I get a few kinks out, but it is still a tangled mess and looks nothing like the slinky Ava had chosen from the treasure chest....and for the most part is rather useless in this state.
As I was trying to untangle all the plastic curves, God whispered to the deepest part of my soul "This is how I feel when others hurt you!" You see, I knew the hurt it was going to cause Ava to discover that her siblings had ruined her toy. But no amount of wishing or working could erase that two people had exercised free will to destroy something that was not theirs. No amount of love or desire to protect could keep my two children from hurting my other child. I would have given anything for them to not have done that to her toy. But even in all my power as the mother of all three children, I could not undo what two had chosen to do in their free will.
The majority of the pain and difficulties in my life over the past 10 years, but truly the last 3, have come as a result of decisions of other people. I have my own consequences to own due to my own sin and disobedience, but there are many deep, deep wounds that are the results of others. So many times in the moments when I am truly honest with myself and God, I cry out, "WHY?! Why would you let them do that? Why would you allow me to hurt in that way?" And in that moment of untangling a mingled purple plastic toy, God showed me that he never allowed it and that He hurt too! He showed me that He would have done anything to stop and now to "undo" what His children had chosen in free will to do that caused me pain. But He showed me that just as my love and desire to shield Ava from the hurt could not stop or undo what had been done by others in free will, so could He not undo what was done to me in free will.
So if you are struggling right now with pain that has been caused by the choices of others, can I tell you that God hurts with you! He is clear in His Word that free will is the way of this world. He will not force Himself or His ways on anyone. That person that hurt you was operating out of their own selfish desires. God did not choose what happened, and He hurts with you now. He wants to walk through healing with you. He wants to take the pain that was caused by others and use it for His good!
When Ava discovered that her slinky was a tangled mess, she was indeed heartbroken. As her mother, I responded the only way I knew how to ease her pain, "I will buy you a new one when we find one to undo what had been done." Can I tell you that God is standing by ready to make new whatever has happened to you? Can He totally erase what you have been through? No! But He does promise in His Word that what the enemy meant for your destruction, He will turn around for your good! Will you let Him do that today? Let Him unravel your purple plastic twisted mess and make you knew again! He hurts where those have hurt you! Let Him apply His healing balm to those wounds and make you new again!
"Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity], and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." Isaiah 58:8
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