Bare Bones of Hope
Today’s Truth
“For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke
Friend to Friend
We’ve all gone through difficult situations that left us wounded. I can’t think of many people who haven’t needed healing in one area or another. And I’ve learned that healing is a process.
Healing begins by recognizing that there is a wound that needs to be healed – a painful memory, a festering bitterness, an aching heart, a gaping hole. It usually doesn’t happen in an instant, but through a process of steps or decisions. Webster defines “process” as “a series of acts or changes, proceeding from one to the next, a method of manufacturing or conditioning something, a moving forward, especially as part of a progression or development.”
One of my favorite words in the New Testament is immediately. “Immediately they received their sight,” “immediately the leprosy left him,” “immediately her bleeding stopped,” and so it goes. Sometimes God heals…immediately. And yet, sometimes He chooses to send us through a process of healing steps. Either way, I have learned that God is more concerned with the process than the finished product. Of course, I prefer the immediately route, but most times it seems I travel through the valleys and mountain ranges as did “Much Afraid” in the classic book “Hinds Feet in High Places.”
The good news is that Jesus never encountered someone whose infirmity was greater than His power to heal it. You might think that you are “too far gone.” Rest assured, Jesus specializes in bringing life from death, no matter how long death has prevailed.
In the Bible, there are three instances of Jesus’ raising someone from the dead: Jairus’s daughter (Luke
Likewise, no matter how long we have felt the pain from a seemingly fatal wound of the soul, God can restore and resurrect our broken dreams. He can even create a vast army from a pile of dried up bones. He told the prophet Ezekiel to speak to a hovel of bones.
Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD…’”
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army. (Ezekiel 37:4-6, 10).
If God can take a pile of dead old dry bones and change them into a vast army, then He can certainly take the broken pieces of our lives and transform us into mighty warriors for Him! Olympian, Eric Liddell once said, “Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God’s plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins.”
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord, our Creator and Restorer of Broken Dreams. I just love the story of Ezekiel speaking to the dead bones and You raising up a mighty army. Today, I pray that You will breathe fresh wind on the dry bones of my life. I thank you that nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible for You.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Now It’s Your Turn
Is there anything in your life that you have felt is impossible to change?
Is there anything in your life that is more difficult than transforming a pile of bones into a vast army?
Go back and read today’s truth. Turn to this verse in your Bible and note the context in which this verse is used.
What is your answer to the angel’s question?
More from the Girlfriends
Are you in a situation that seems hopeless? Oh dear girlfriend, there is always hope for a child of God. If you would like to learn more about hope for the hurting, see Your Scars are Beautiful to God by Sharon Jaynes.
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Girlfriends in God
Matthews, NC 28106
info@girlfriendsingod.com
www.girlfriendsingod.com
Originally published Wednesday, 21 November 2007.
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