By Terrie McNeil
I’m not big on jewelry but I recently bought a necklace that caught my eye. The brand was Love this Life. When I looked at the packaging, it had the word Strength written with the following quote: “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” That was all I needed to buy the necklace, because I have been through some things that have definitely challenged me to change!
I walked through a season of life during which fear was the predominant force that directed what I was thinking, feeling, and doing. I hate to admit that because I like to think of myself as being self-sufficient and able to overcome difficulties. But the truth is, I was a mess.
I had been faking a smile and acting as if everything was okay when in reality I was so broken inside. The life I knew was gone and the pain associated with that loss was too much for me to face on my own. I’ve called this season of my life – My Identity Crisis. Don’t get me wrong, I knew who I was. But I didn’t know who I was supposed to be if I wasn’t the wife of my husband.
It’s hard to love your life when you experience deep loss of any kind. When the life you know and love no longer exists for whatever the reason, things can feel despairing.
Many types of loss can trigger an overwhelming sense of hopelessness or despair: a divorce, a medical diagnosis, a rebellious child, a drug addict, or your own choices that resulted in the deep regret of loss you’re now experiencing. No matter what you’re experiencing, I want to declare to you today: There is hope! I know, because I found it.
During this season of loss, I felt like I was drowning and I didn’t know how much more I could take. That’s when I made a decision to ‘faith-it’ the rest of the way. And even though I made my fair share of mistakes in this pain-filled place, I made the decision to trust God in the midst of my uncertainty. He patiently and carefully allowed me to walk through the darkest days of my life allowing me to stumble and fall as I was trying to find my way. And when I finally realized it was His grace and His protection that I really needed all along (not my own), the surface appeared and I gasped for air. I felt like I could finally breathe! Then I made the decision, I wasn’t going back under to drown.
My effort to self-protect wasted so much time and caused added heartache and pain. But God is so faithful, that when I was finally ready to let Him lead, He put me on a path that (not only) built me up and equipped me to survive, but to thrive!
For this shift to occur in my life, it meant allowing myself to be okay with not being able to ‘fix’ myself. It meant relying on someone outside of myself for help. For me, it was directly relying on God through the people he had placed in my life and trusting that He could bring healing to the areas of my life where I was hurting so deeply. I had to learn to let people in and let them help. This was an act of love toward myself by surrendering to the help God placed around me in my life.
If you are hurting today, I want to encourage you to reach out to someone and let them into your place of loss and pain. Allow God to use them to bring healing to your soul because a huge part of healing your soul is loving yourself enough to get the help you need, through God, His Word and the people he has placed in your life.
Remember…. You are Soul Beautiful.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
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