Rejoice in the Lord!

In his letter to the Philippian church Paul says, (Philippians 4: 4) “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”  Paul is writing this letter from prison and despite his situation he is still encouraging the believers in Philippi and is continuing to teach them.  Paul is moving past his own situation to look at others.  “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” Last week I quit my job, it became a very toxic environment for me, so I had to walk.  After I confessed my sins to the Lord with my dear friends, because how I left was sinful, in the fact I did not tell my wife I was leaving, I went to church and sat down before the Lord and this is the first verse the Lord brought me to. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice.”  I was mad, hurt, and angry over my job situation.  The Lord has been dealing with my heart for the past year about job, career, and ministry, my purpose in work and in life.  This last year has been a painful walk with the Lord but He needed to reset my thinking. So I am sitting down at church confused about all that is going on, and the Lord tells me to Rejoice in Him because He is still good, I am still His child, He knew when I woke up I would be quitting my job so it was no shock to Him.   What did I do? I rejoiced in the Lord, and I rejoiced in the Lord over the weekend and continued to seek His face.  The evening I quit my job the Lord had already started to open some doors with employment.  God tells us that He takes care of His own, and He does. 

I am still without a job and I am trusting the Lord to provide for my family’s needs.  This verse in Philippians has really challenged me even in my journey of healing.  No matter what we are going through we need to continue to rejoice in the Lord for He is good. No matter how bad we hurt (remember, God using pain to bring about our healing) rejoice in Him.  Then look to see how you can be an encouragement to others.  Paul was in jail, and he was still reaching out to others.  Helping others can in fact help take your eyes off your current situation and allow you to help others who may be hurting as well.  Helping others helps you in your journey of healing.

No matter what we are going through, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice.”

Healing Is A Life Long Process

So often I wish I could take a break from my journey of healing and get off the path to rest, it hurts and it’s painful and there are days that are just no fun. Those days seem to turn into weeks that roll over to months. There are days I wish I could just stop hurting, but because I am still hurting, I have to continue to walk on my path of healing because God is not done with me yet. God is not in a hurry, He grows things. As hard as this statement is, it’s true. We see this in Scripture. God wasn’t in a hurry to get things done. He has a perfect plan and that plan is still playing out today. Our healing is a life-long process that will be completed at the end of our life. Don’t give up! As much as it hurts to keep going. There are days I am just flat frustrated and I wish I could get punched in the face because at least then I will know where the pain is coming from. There are days I just hurt and don’t know where in the world the pain is coming from, but God knows, and I think He has to wait until we are ready to deal with said pain. For the last several months I have been dealing with some stuff and the pain level has been pretty high up. The one thing I thought was causing my pain was not it at all and the Lord had to take me down a long walk to show me that. At the end of the walk, I was very disappointed but the Lord had to take me down that path to show me what I thought was causing problems was not the “root” issue at all. There was a much bigger issue. For several weeks I have been hurting because in my heart I would not have been able to accept the true cause of the problem because I was not focused right. Finally, yesterday God started to unpack another wound I had been carrying around for so many years. (See my series on wounds – https://refugenortheast.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/the-wound-part-1/)

This wound I thought I had already dealt with it, but I came to realize I just packed it back down and didn’t really deal with it. I don’t hurt as much today, I think most of this is because I am in shock that this issue I thought I had dealt with was nowhere dealt with. I say all this to say, that I am still walking on my path of healing, and the Lord is still able to use me to help others and to encourage others. I know with the Lords help I will be able to get past this current wound I am working on with Him. Then there will be another one the Lord will need to bring up and help me deal with in His timing. Don’t give up! I know it hurts and it’s no fun, but remember we have to go through the pain to be healed. God loves you!

Ask the Lord to continue to help you move through your pain and to show you where your pain is coming from. Ask Him if you’re at a place to even deal with it. I wasn’t, and I totally missed the mark on this one. Remember we are on a lifetime walk with the Lord on this path of healing.

 

 

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