From Crutches To Healing

I’ll never forget the day I began to learn about leaning on the Lord rather than man. My husband had to speak very hard words to me, and he was hurting at the thought of doing it. We were upstairs in our room and it was a private moment between us.

He said, “Sweetheart, you look to me to provide you with all the love you need, and if I died giving you everything I had, it still would not be enough.”

I was crushed and for the smallest moment, I felt very alone.

I wiped the tears rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t speak; I couldn’t feel anything but pain. Then, the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Veronica, come seek from me everything you need. If you need love come to me, strength come, faith, healing, friendship, everything! Only I can provide for you perfectly. Only I will be there with you, forever. Only in me can you find the freedom, the joy and the peace to move and flow in a relationship with others.”

As time passed, I grew in my understanding of those very words the Lord spoke to me. There is a scripture that I want to share with you.

 Jeremiah 17:5 & 6

Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.
For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

I was raised to look to my parents for every need, every decision, even direction from God. So this lesson was extremely difficult for me to grasp at first. I was used to seeking man for my every need. Now the Lord was trying to teach me a new way; and I understood the concept of leaning on Him, but I didn’t have a clue as how to do it, not until God showed me. 

When I look back on that day, I can hear the Lord directing my husband with the wisdom to say those words. Although they crushed me for the moment, they were words of life. As relationships came and left, as they always do, my relationship in the Lord has kept me unwavering and secure. For those who have abandoned me, left my life or just drifted off, I’ve been able to bear the loss in a healthy way. 

The Lord cautions us to not to turn our mind nor our heart from Him. When we do, we have a propensity to mislay our individuality, our identity in a relationship with another person. Consequently, when we loose that relationship, we feel they take a piece of us with them and we fight to get it back. This can impede us from moving forward. We dwell on them, we wish that they still loved us, we can even become obsessive. This brings devastation and emptiness. 

And if that is not enough, this also gives the other person a power to control us, to make us miserable with their mind games. 

After the Lord told me in verses 5 and 6 how naked and destitute I will be if I lean on man for my needs only the Lord can meet; He then tells me in verses 7 and 8 that I will be like a tree planted by water with my roots having grown deep, green and healthy; able to withstand a season of famine, if I my identity is found in Him. You see, the Lord protects our identity and our individuality. Everything about us, even the number of hairs on our head is important to Him.

Jeremiah 17:7 & 8

[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.
 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.

Man is frail and God says so!

There is no way they can possibly meet our deepest needs. Not even in marriage. This does not mean that having a relationship isn’t fulfilling or that it doesn’t bring joy. It certainly can! What it does mean is that if our identity is in Christ, if we seek Him first before all else, then what the relationship gives us is an added bonus; plus it allows us to live freely in that relationship, without unhealthy expectations. 

The last thing I want to share is that I am writing this from my own personal experience. I understand loss. I understand how it feels to be betrayed. I understand the pain, but I also understand the Lord’s provision and love given freely. The hope and healing He has given me and offers to you. With Him we can survive a time of loss. We can endure with the Lords grace a time of transition, from one season to another.

Below is the link to Jeremiah 17.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2017;&version=45;

With much love,