WRITTEN BY MICHELE HANSEN
The battle had been raging and it seemed there was no relief in sight. Fragments of inspiration lay across the battlefield. The smoke and ash of broken dreams drifted across our mindscape.
Hope; or very little hope, was lost in the fog of defeat. There should have been more hope, but we didn’t know where to look. Grace was hard to come by as our reserves were running dangerously low.
The enemy was out there…waiting. We were weak and he knew it. The promises that were given seemed impossibly far away. “Never will I leave you…”; the softest of whispers brushing across the fringes of our memories. It didn’t feel true. We wanted to be angry. We wanted to fight something but didn’t know what. “It’s not fair” …the mantra like broken glass in our souls. “No one cares how we feel…”
Where had it all started? How did we get here? Hadn’t we prayed? Didn’t we do the right things? Wasn’t He supposed to be faithful? Where did we go wrong?
Doubts, like cannon balls, slammed into carefully constructed castles of our own making. The lies, that sounded so much like truth, were missiles of perpetual self-protection that took the “pow” out of the power that we thought we had.
“This isn’t right.” “It shouldn’t be this hard!” Our self-pity was a cavity in the teeth of the mirage of our control. We were being exposed and more vulnerable than ever to the wiles of the enemy.
He (the enemy) thought he was taking us out. We thought he was taking us out. We wanted to run and hide, shut it all away, constantly looking for the quick fix, the right move, the next great idea. We hoped someone would save us and believed we weren’t worth saving. At the end of the rope.
“Never will I leave you or forsake you.” We tied a knot in the end of that rope and held on.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son…” Could that even be true? How? “I came to this world, not to condemn the world but to save it.” (John 3:17) Look in a mirror…we are “the world”. So then why? Why would He want to save us? We were broken, lost, worth less than a bent bicycle wheel.
“Why”? We wonder.
“Because of Love” …
The Love of the Father.
Greater love has no one than this…that He lay down His own life for His brethren. (John 15:13)
His creation, His children…are heirs with Him in glory. (Romans 8:17)
With man this is impossible, but with God? All things are possible with God. (Mark 9:23)
We might have a real hard time accepting that. We pray, “Help us, Lord, with our unbelief”. (Mark 9:24). Peace, not as the world gives, but supernatural, transcendent and full of power, flows over our souls like the warmest blanket on a deep winter’s day. Safe, pure, complete.
We learn that the mind is a battleground with fortresses and castles (strongholds) even dragons. We learn about putting on armor and praying in His Name which is above all names. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
We learn to wield the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Our faith becomes stronger, not as we dominate, but as we surrender—not to the enemy, but to our King. We recognize that in our weaknesses, He is strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9) God makes us strong—in Him.
As we gaze on the landscape of our lives, we begin to see the paths that the Lord took us on. We see the scars left by battles and whisper to ourselves that we wish we weren’t so ugly and marred by life…then Jesus shows us His hands and feet and declares that scars are beautiful. His bottles, full of our tears, are poured out like a healing balm. We are becoming whole in our brokenness as we rest in the awesome grace of His presence.
God came to this earth…Jesus. Lived a human life, died a human death, defeated the power of sin and death, and was raised to life again by the power of God, granting eternal life to us who believe. God’s love in tandem with Christ’s sacrifice…Greater love has no one…
