Unscathed

It’s like a mirage, an oasis in a dry desert land, this promise of fulfillment and the quenching of the parched, never-ending thirst. It’s an empty hope. A false pledge for a better life, a new beginning with a new person. A new family even?

This place-the place of hoping for a different life besides the one you have now. As if you could simply discard all the problems and troubles and boldly walk away unscathed.

It’s a lie from the pit of hell.

You can’t escape the things that are within you. You may be able to temporary shed them while you chase after the yonder thing that shines.

You can’t escape the things that happened to you either. Trying to bury them deep within, as if they aren’t real. They only exist in the dark place that you’ve chosen to avoid, at all costs. And it does cost. Dearly. Deeply. Desperately.

It’s only by the Grace of God that we, along with a trusted tribe, are able to work through the unspeakable. The inexcusable. The secret places that we loathe. Exchanging beauty for the ashes we donned, and the garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness so burdensome you can barely breathe. That’s the outcome of trusting God with it all. Leaving it in His capable hands.

We try to carry the load all by ourselves, as if it’s a badge of merit, a notch in our life belt. It’s a carefully crafted deception that we’ve somehow earned a better place in life, or even heaven, when our time comes. But it’s a false sense of nobility.

There’s only One Noble.

The sacrifices we make are trumped by the One sacrifice He made. One sacrifice that lasts throughout eternity.

We were never meant to earn our way. We were designed to accept His.

None of us escape this life unscathed.

Hope.

True Hope.

Everlasting Hope.

Jesus.