RESURRECTION ISN'T RESERVED JUST FOR EASTER

I am currently in a state of mourning over what I desired my life to be. The process of mourning is visceral and difficult. I am gravely disappointed in myself for allowing fear to dictate many of the important decisions in my life. I was a seemingly functional person operating in a depressed mindset and state of being for over two decades. I went to work, I raised my children, I ran a youth ministry - I performed the essential functions to fulfill what I believed were my responsibilities. I took on the feelings of sadness and anxiety and tucked them away each day as if they were not real so that I could function. I am still dealing with the fallout and consequence of operating in this state of mind for so long.


Grief is not reserved just for the loss of life that is the result of someone physically dying, but can be applied to losing anything that meant something to you. For me, it was the loss of myself. I had lost sight of the abundant life that God promised. I was not living in that truth. In fact, I was not living at all. I came to a point where I did not recognize myself. I was utterly and completely lost. In my weakened state, I accepted and allowed things in my life that quite frankly, astonished me. I was for all intents and purposes, dead.
I remember listening to a tape of my grandfather preaching a sermon on the Valley of Dry Bones. My grandfather died before I was born, but my mother used to play old recordings of his sermons. Little did I know that the words preached then would be so impactful and relative in my life now. It is amazing to me how God gives you what you need when you need it. I was in a valley, I felt as if I was literally a pile of dry bones with no form, no skin, no breath - no life. Recalling this sermon was like God leading me to this valley and showing me these dry bones, asking me the question - “can these bones live?” He was using this scripture to talk to me about myself.



Then he said to me, “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[a] 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.’”
Ezekiel 37:4-6
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The struggle continues as I battle my way to wholeness, but God literally brought me back to life. I am learning to not look back and long for something that wasn’t real. I’m learning to look at my disappointment though the lens of the Gospel. When God deliverers you from something there is a freedom and a resolve that is infused into your life.
Whatever you are dealing with, know that although there is pain and sadness, joy really does come in the morning. Morning is a different time for everyone. Allow God to do His perfecting work in you. Lean on Him to survive. Trust Him and allow him to direct your path as you move forward. God will resurrect and breathe life into your dead situation. The same grace He imparts to me He will impart to you.