Hello my dears
Blessings to you and yours. Recently, I attended a Pan African Women’s event and was drawn to Hagar’s story. It was actually never examined during the gathering beyond my team’s focusing on her during morning worship. But throughout my reflection on Hagar’s story, today’s Holy Nougat™ kept me focused.
I really hope your taste will be even more delicious than mine
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalms 56:8 NLT
There is something powerfully cleansing about tears. And yet, it can be somewhat discomfiting to be caught crying. We’re nurtured into thinking that’s tears are a sign of weakness or a manipulative tactic; which perhaps already provides a clue that tears have high spiritual value (I’m convinced that the enemy of our souls tries to distort beauty and value in things which preserve and enhance life).
Someone once encouraged me to desist from offering napkins to someone who is crying as it makes for unwarranted self-consciousness. If sought, allow for the provision of same but allow the tears to do their own work. I was then directed to this wonderful nougat, which sold me on their premise.
For, if God collects our tears in a bottle, it really means that they’re precious to God. That God truly cares about what we undergo. So if we stifle both or tears and our emotions, are we not denying God the opportunity to journey with us through the Valley of Shadows? It may seem like a stretch, but that’s the way my soul has internalized this.
If my premise holds true to you, might I challenge you to pause for a few moments and
A] Consider a few instances when you were denied the right to express your true emotions (whether self-imposed or other-inflicted).
Take them out and engage them.
Discern if you can, WHY the emotions were repressed, and moreover the emotional and spiritual impact it had on your psyche at the time
All yourself whether your views of God and God’s god-ness got shifted even slightly as a result.
Invite God to enable you to feel once again, and to afford you the real chance to offer God those tears and hurts.
B] Lift out one or two situations where you have full vent to your feelings and cried without worrying about the responses of others
How did that experience impact your soul
Can you recall sensing God’s presence with you even vaguely during that season
Give thanks for God’s provision even in the most trying situations
C] Having completed A & B, consider if you will, what/who socialized you into thinking that tears have no intrinsic value.
Remind yourself that God actually seeks to accompany us through the Valley; but first we must offer the invitation
Release and reject the notion that God does not wish to be intimately engaged with us; let’s begin to encourage and embrace God’s presence through ALL appreciate of our journey.
Intake the wonder of God’s Love and LIVE!
May God’s grace move us all to Healing and restored Hope.
Thanks for joining us in this Divine feast.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
