My girl is alot like me. Now, sometimes this can be a blessing to her, and sometimes it is a hardship. She has a compassionate heart for bearing the burdens of others, but she also has a heart that crumples easily and can feel tramped to bits. Sometimes it doesn't take much. And I can identify with that.
I was thinking today about the abundance of lessons I have learned from my children. Too many to count, and soo many I continue to re-learn. One thing I have learned from my daughter this past year was something that she said to me one night as I was tucking her into bed.
She had been dealing with some hurtful people at school and we had talked alot about how to handle the hurt. What to do with it, how to react in the moment and how it's bad to carry the hurt for any time at all. Hard stuff. Stuff that I can struggle with myself at times. As we laid in her bed together and she expressed her heart of hurt, she said something really powerful to me. She said, "Mom, I have been praying that I would smile at them and mean it." That statement just blew me away. To smile at the hurt-thrower and genuinely mean that you care about them. That the thing that just happened is small compared to the love you are going to give right back anyhow. Amazing. In her sweet desperation for peace, she so desired to be the one who would extend peace even when it seemed like facing a mountain of opposition. And the most significant thing about this is that she knew that it could only be done, only be achieved, with God's grace and mercy in her own life.
How difficult this can be. We often don't know how to do it. To turn on a heal from the desire to repay hurt for hurt. To seek a peaceful attitude when peace isn't flowing your way. And here's the thing...we can't. We aren't able on our own. It is only possible through the redeeming power of Christ.
"I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
The Lord promised to deliver the peace, along with the strength to do it. Because often times, He doesn't answer our prayer by removing us from the painful situation. He simply gives us the strength to endure the hardship and an abundance of grace to pursue peace and love for others that we didn't think was possible. Our rescue is not found in removal, but in finding that we lean on our Creator and persevere. Our rescue is found in our Rescuer. We don't deserve it, but He gives it freely out of love for us. We are His prized possessions. So, The Lord restores us to the place He knows we can be with His power surging.
Over the years, I have learned how necessary it is to release pain to The Lord to take care of. But, sometimes it takes me awhile to remember that I find peace when I do that. My girl still needs guided by the hand in doing so. And it is my privilege to help her with these things. Who better to do it than someone who has first hand experience. But, I am still asking God to help me smile and mean it sometimes.
"O God, from my youth You have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your might to another generation, Your power to all those to come." Psalm 71:17-18
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