When writing I like to be raw and real so that people can relate or get to know me in some way, shape or form. That means then that I must be willing to be vulnerable….
To be vulnerable according to the dictionary is to be "Exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally."
When I read that I personally get scared not only am I willing to be harmed or attacked both physically and emotionally but I allow myself to be exposed.
I ask myself then how often am I willing to expose myself to the will of God in my life? How often do I allow myself to be fully vulnerable with Him and for His cause? To fully and willingly allow myself to follow and trust Him so completely that I am willing to be hurt and attacked both physically, emotionally and spiritually in His name.
This is why I am so very excited about the World Race! To be placed out of my element so that I must be vulnerable for the Lord’s will on this journey. For as Francis Chan said, "It is true that God may have called you to be exactly where you are. But, it is absolutely vital to grasp that he didn’t call you there so you could settle in and live your life in comfort and superficial peace."
For me when I think about being vulnerable I think of loving someone because if you really love someone you give that loved one the power of pain and the ability to hurt you in a way nothing else can. But, here is the awesome and amazing thing it is happy to love. I repeat it is happy to love even if you are not loved in return. There is pain too, certainly, but love does not think that very significant. Think about it for a moment God who is love is going through pain each and every day because he cries out to us and yet we are deaf to his calling and yet He loves us still despite that. He gave his one and only son to die for us, the ultimate sacrifice so that we may be blameless and filled with love and hope of the one who sent His son in our place. Love and pain go hand in hand, to know love is to know pain too.
Why though? I’m still trying to figure this one out…
God allows us to experience times of pure bliss and love so that we can truly feel what it is like to be blessed. To know that God is good and that He gives us so much that we tend to forget about; but as he gives, he also takes. But, when He does take it’s because we tend to put Him on the back burner. A person, our job, our most valued possession gets taken away because we have lost sight of the one hope in this world; our main goal.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)
He takes so that we may turn back to Him. He takes so that we may learn to rest in the reassurance that we are in His hands and He is holding onto us and will never let go! He takes so that he can bless us even more so when the storm is passed. He wants to help us grow, learn, and see that there is always hope!
God uses these times to challenge us, to place our trust in Him rather than the things of this world. He gives us opportunities to be transformed and in the silences in life when I have clung to God, He has reassured me that emotionalism is not the same as spiritual maturity. What really counts is how much I love, rely on, and believe in Him during dismal, dreary times. Through His wisdom He has kept me safe and has transformed me. Now He’s using these tests to help me graduate to new areas of growth. For, He said that he will make our paths straight He never said that they would be easy.
True joy, I’ve learned is not a feeling, but a calm assurance of resting in the reality that Jesus is Lord—and He is in control. It’s as if Jesus is saying “Remember love it is always safe to obey my voice, even if it seems to call you to paths which look impossible or even crazy.”
Let Sorrow do its work, send grief or pain;
Sweet are thy messengers, sweet their refrain.
It they but work in me, more love, O Christ, to thee,
More love to thee, more love to thee.
(Hinds Feet On High Places)
Being vulnerable and willing to say “Here I am Lord, send me, I give you my life and my all” is no small ability, but it is in the stillness of our hearts where no one else can see and know except Him who knows you and I better than we know ourselves can see and look into our very souls. All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at. Every inner response of the human heart to love and every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of love.
Many a quiet, ordinary, and hidden life, unknown to the world, is a veritable garden in which Love’s
flowers and fruits have come to such perfection that it is a place of delight where the King of Love himself walks and rejoices with his friends. The greatest victories are like the wild flowers, those which no one knows about. So I’m going to be working on humbling myself and being willing to be vulnerable with the Lord and hopefully I will find that Love is spreading a carpet of flowers beneath my feet.
And hopefully through it all even the pain I’ll accept it and be joyful through it all and remember that Happy it is to be able to love…
