Just Be

They say no voice can praise just like yours, nobody can dance just like you, and nobody can have the same fingerprints or pupils we have. No one has our story exactly either although we can find people who have similarities.

Sometimes with a “being” mentality, we have the idea that that includes keeping the walls, the covers in place while we hide. Being embraces the broken pieces of our story, and realizes that sometimes “God heals our heart, but not our wounds.” Thanks to Matt Bays, author of “Finding God in the Ruins” I have been contemplating on this... our hearts and not our wounds. Covering wounds don’t help them heal. And most of the time, they surface anyway. Occasionally, they happen in the middle of our face and nothing can hide it. I would rather skip the stories of stitching up my face in Thailand, or cut lips, or well, yeah, some of us just have ways of getting ourselves into weird situations. But eventually the bandage has to come off, and people ask questions.

Let’s get a little more clear. Sometimes we excuse our masks, our false selves and say everyone needs to just accept me being me. That part of just being isn’t what I think we need to keep, just to put that out there.

However, if the story has been hard and broken, just “be” with it, and have real conversations with God about the time you felt betrayed by Him, or whatever it was. Doesn’t mean you have to tell the whole world, but tell the ones that matter.

So back to healed hearts but wounds that won’t scab, and close up with a scar. We will have certain themes that follow us for life, unless God mercifully removes a thorn from our side. Can we accept those parts of the story, and just acknowledge for a moment that we will always “be prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love?” Maybe it’s rejection that keeps your walls in place. Maybe it’s pride, greed, or something else that you hide. Sometimes God helps us let down the guard, the false selves, and the coping mechanism we turn to, and with that, healing comes to our heart.

The wounds of the past can’t be replaced with a new story. If you were abused or neglected, you can not change the stories to be what you needed. Those stories will remain the same. To a certain point, you will have healing and will continue to heal, but the unmet needs will always be there.

We don’t revisit the past for excuses. We go there to find what lies we started believing. When we change our thoughts and beliefs, we change our lives. We may have been harmed, but the coping mechanisms and false selves and unredeemed stories have the potential to do more damage than whatever they did.

If you look back, there’s always a good chance that you will see times where you became more compassionate, more of an advocate because of what you experienced. If you allow yourself to become a better person instead of bitter, there is a good chance you will.

You will probably see pieces of God in it as well that you would never want to lose. Maybe it’s a story of praying that God would help you forget because you were too young to understand or deal with the situation. And then years later, someone apologizes for the situation, and instantly you remember for the first time what you asked God to wipe from memory. God honored that prayer. Maybe it’s a different way He came through for you.


When it comes to “Just Be” in our hard pieces, allow God to use those when He wants to. I remember once when God clearly prompted me to share a piece in Asia that even went against Asian cultural grain. The Interpreter was flipping out on me, but it was the truth. Days later, I noticed one girl was only coming to my class and not general assembly. One day we had a “glare down” because she didn’t believe the truth I was teaching. Non-verbal communication is real, especially if there are language barriers. Later, I found out she struggled with the same piece I had shared. Fast forward a few years, I ran into a man from her primitive village... a God story all its own because it was hours away from the village and we just ‘randomly’ walked into this house on our way somewhere else. She seemed to be doing better, from what he said. For the 3 years in between, she was a regular on my prayer list. In my heart, I believe that I will see her in Heaven and I can’t wait to really talk with not one single barrier like language or an obnoxiously loud and opinionated male Intrepreter from a female speaker to a female audience. So if God tells you to say it, put it out there, even if there is an uproar. And sorry. I don’t feel the urge to spill all and go into details of the hard piece. If you feel the urge to message and ask, I can tell you.

“Out of your greatest pain will flow your greatest ministry.” One of my favorite teachers had me questioning his statement for a while. But it’s true. When we talk about the hard things as He leads us to, God things happen. I remember a weekend where I was asked to share with youth girls. My sister thought I should not do it, and didn’t want to help with an aspect that I wanted help with. But I knew what God had said, so I did what I wouldn’t have chosen myself. And He blessed it in extraordinary ways as that group connected in ways it almost never had before.

Maybe it’s the redemptive theme of my life to tell people that this is true that “Out of your greatest pain will flow your greatest ministry.” Maybe your motif is a bit different, but let the hard pieces be used for His glory. Whatever we do, let’s drop our guards in the circle we find ourselves in, and share as the Spirit leads. There’s a good chance there is a “Me, too” just waiting to happen.

Own your story. The whole bloody, sweaty, sticky beautiful masterpiece is all uniquely and amazingly yours. People have told me that my version of ‘Noah’s flood’ would be a gold mine for years to come. I wanted to throw them overboard, but I know that there is truth in their words. I don’t see it all yet, but I believe somewhere the other side of the rainbow, I can cash in the gold pot and help someone for His glory.

SuperFood:
In 1 Samuel, it talked about difficult and depressing circumstances like his wives being kidnapped and taken for slaves, but “David encouraged himself in the Lord.”
In the Corinthians passages, Paul said his sufficiency is of God. He also talks about not being overwhelmed by hard stuff. Persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed. Corinthians also talks about us comforting people like God comforts us.
The thing with super food is that we don’t seem to absorb it as well when life is good. It takes on meaning when we are desperately hungering and thirsting.

So be real with God, and let Him talk back to you. Whatever He has to say, expect profound. I was angry about a certain situation and why the redemption didn’t come till almost 15 years later... God asked me if life would have been easier if it hadn’t happened, resulting in me buying into lies? Umm, no. I don’t think God wants us to believe lies, but this is one of those times when He turned a bad situation into something for my good.

I often contemplate the truth of the words of the rat race lady of Myanmar... “A lot can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the glory.” (Minus glorifying God) Let God be glorified in your whole story, including the hard pieces.