you are worth exploring

I think Mondays will officially be my "sermon sharing" day. It's just so good, I have to tell!

I will preface this entry like so: I felt like I was in a YWAM class last night. My heart was so heavy, tears brimming, truth blaring, soul searching.... Greg will be speaking on Hearing God's Voice for the next several weeks, and last night he totally went there. There being the place that most of us don't like going, and if I could be judgmental just for a sec, most people didn't go there last night. I'm sorry, but 5 mins is NOT long enough to let Him walk you through your **** and the depths of your hurt from this life. Freedom is ours to have, yet so many either believe it's not attainable, or they don't have time to sit long and let Him work. Tragic.

Greg went so very deep in sharing about his own pain, his own story. He also brought some interesting thoughts to a few verses, one being Proverbs 20:27,

the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord

searching all the inner depths of his heart.

Greg's take on this was that our spirits, in being united with God's spirit, is the light that searches through our deepest, darkest places. In a way, our own spirit evangelizes to us. There are parts of our being that have yet to be reached with freedom, with the gospel, so healing and restoration is an ongoing process in our life. It's a lot to explain, and I won't go super deep into it, because you can listen to his message { here }.

I just thought it was so intriguing, and there was a lot going on inside of me as he was speaking. I love when people talk about how to use our imaginations to connect with God. It makes total sense! If God is Someone that we can't quite wrap our heads around, and if He's Someone we can't see with our physical sight, where else could we get to know Him best except in our imaginations? That seems childish. And I think that's the point. This faith thing is simple, really. We are the ones who make it too complicated.

So after that beautiful, hopeful message at church, I read this today: Don's blog.

It goes along pretty perfectly with my mental processing. I like his words...

"We do know a lot about space, and we are learning more about the oceans, but I don't think either of these territories are the least explored. I still think the least explored territory is humanity, both collective and individual. It's not physical territory, I know, but where is there more fearful darkness or illuminating beauty than in the depths of the person sitting next to you on a bus?

Where is there more evil and more beauty than in the unexplored cosmos of a human being?"

Tough question: do you know that you are worth exploring?

We have so much more to us than we could ever know. We are complex, God is complex, but the interaction between the two doesn't have to be. This is relational. We can know Him, and as we get to know Him, let us open ourselves wide to His love and healing. He is gentle. He will make you new.

O Light that follows all my ways

I yield my flickering torch to Thee

My heart restores it's borrowed ray

that in Thy sunshine's blaze

it's day may brighter, fairer be.

So light a fire in my heart & I'll burn for You.

O Joy that seeks me through the pain

I cannot close my heart to Thee.

I trace the rainbow through the rain

and feel the promise is not in vain

that morn shall tearless be.

So anoint me with joy & joyful I will be.