faith

holy listening to life, love and loss – magnetic monday

/ Joy Lenton / 16 Comments

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Life’s deep secrets contain echoes of eternity, breath of love, hint of loss and eventual leave-taking. For we cannot love well, fully and freely without seeing and sensing the sharp contrast of light and shade together, which involves a kind of holy listening to life itself, acknowledging those smudgy grey areas we all inhabit.

When we raise our awareness, become accustomed to holy whispers making themselves known to us in the midst of the mundane, we soon realise that we share those deep secrets—both concealed and laid bare—as glorious partakers and curious onlookers observing God’s work in this world.

In turn we become holy listeners, those who wait on the Word, seek out Truth, hoping to hear heaven’s heartbeat, to bear its joy and sorrow, become saturated in its love, mercy and forgiveness, as we learn the wisdom and discernment only God can impart. Then we offer these things as gift to all, especially those in our sphere of influence.

In my first magnetic poetry poem below (made with the Original Set), holy listening can be interpreted as you see fit.

Holy Listening

She said vast dark secrets

of old dazzle like dance

a brilliant word for

this holy listening

I can bring cake

give me warm ocean

breeze lingering in

cloudy night air to

celebrate their wake

magnetic-poetry-holy-listening

 

My second poem—made using the Poet Set—examines love and loss, inextricably linked as one heart-rending experience.

Love and Loss

love is our mad sun

or it’s cool as death

whispered lies to the wind

wanting one last symphony

bitter as black mist

her arms were

daylight bare

languid as language

magnetic-poetry-love-and-loss

 

What is God whispering to you this week?

How is this magnetic poetry speaking to you?

I’d love to hear in the comments below.  🙂

A taste of the holy invading our everyday

/ Joy Lenton / 23 Comments

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How can we fail to notice the holy? Sadly, all too easily. Yet God leaves little messages in each moment. Markers of His presence. Footsteps of the divine in our midst. Evidence surrounds us everywhere but we often miss it.

A good way to heighten our awareness of the holy is to seek frequent sacred spaces in our days, whereby we look, listen and pray. We can aim to live with an expectation of wonder during Advent and beyond, to put spiritual lenses on, watch and wait with anticipation, have a heart set on holiness, remain alert to its appearance in our everyday ordinary.

We can become deaf to God’s voice due to disobedience, fail to step forward into encounter because of fear, or drown Him out by our busyness and drive toward independence.

Our resistance may stem from many things, but we eventually begin to see how much we can miss by not readily opening our eyes, heart and mind to the holy in our midst.

Sometimes God may choose to conceal Himself for a while. Then we have to exercise our faith muscles, to trust He is still with us in the dark, grope our way back to believing, have praying companions who come alongside and remind us of God’s goodness, His immanence with us.

God offers us numerous opportunities for connection, whispers words into our consciousness and does everything in His power to gently lure us into a deeper relationship with Him. There is no coercion to be close to God, only an open invitation of constant love.

Our eagerness to discover God hiding in plain sight is more than matched by His willingness to be found. And creation itself is the loudest and clearest clarion call signalling His significant presence with us on a daily basis.

Thoughts of the way we often taste the Holy in sweet, tangible ways and sense an essence of God in our midst have shaped the haiku I’ve written today. All three haiku have been prompted by this week’s poetic haiku challenge of ‘Kiss&Taste’ set by Ronovan Hester. Just click here to visit and meet the man behind the challenge.

Taste of Love

Feel the taste of Love

Descend from heaven above

Kiss your cares away

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A Holy kiss

Taste a Holy kiss

Sealing your heart, soul and lips

A divine imprint

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Benediction kiss

Holy Spirit sighs

Breathe a benediction kiss

We taste deep inside

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What is helping you to sense the holy in your midst?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the conversation below.

crave: deciding what our souls are really longing for

/ Joy Lenton / 28 Comments

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It’s hard to be neutral these days, immune to the constant bombardment and urgent invitation to spend. Consumerism feeds our every desire—including those we didn’t even know we had before—as it makes  most of us, especially weak-willed people, crave far more than we can afford.

As a woman of faith, my desires also reflect the holy work going on within, mirroring the way God is slowly changing my thoughts and altering them to be more in line with following Him.

A craving sounds like such a desperate thing. It makes me wonder if my heart is truly craving what it needs. Am I yearning for God, desiring to know Him better above all things? I hope so. Some days seem to be more about gritting our teeth and getting on with it, more about survival than sweet surrender, don’t they?

But my hope and prayer for you and me is to be able to sift the grace glimmers from the glitter and glitz, the eternal, lasting treasure from the way the world measures things, the Hope we have in Jesus from the urge to buy what pleases.

Because we soon discover that no thing in itself, no person can completely satiate our deepest soul longing, the God-shaped vacuum only He can fill.

Such thoughts helped shape my five-minute-friday poem below…

What do I crave?

What do I crave? The TV ads suggest

myriad things from saucepans to rings

They believe my life is bereft without

the great benefit of their products

 

But is it really? Can Christmas be bought? Can love

be a commodity like everything else on the shelf?

I think not, because here’s what I crave most of all

in a free-flow, no-particular-order kind of way…

 

I crave rest and healing, a greater God-revealing

Hope for the future on bleaker days and a

deeper appreciation of the gift of grace

Hands holding me steady, lifted in prayer

Friends to support, encourage, be here

 

I crave strength for today, solace for sadness

Calm patience to cope with all of life’s madness

A growing faith and trust in God’s ways, as

I yield and surrender my will every day

 

I crave peace and quiet, solitude and silence

as I listen, contemplate all that life means

Inspiration to write, create and give

Energy enough to love well and live

©JoyLenton2016

How do you differentiate between true soul needs and general desires?

What are you craving most in this season of busyness and excess?

Blessed as always to have words coming today in response to the #FMF prompt: ‘crave’ and to join fellow writing friends gathering at our gracious host Kate Motaung’s site to share their thoughts. Do come over and see the great posts on offer here. 

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a deeper journeying toward the light

/ Joy Lenton / 22 Comments

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Our journey toward the Light of God’s presence will be fraught with detours along the way. Life’s darkness steals around the edges of our days as it seeks to blot out the light. A sweet-pea flower’s fragility reminds us how our lives often feel like a transient, tender flare of brightness set within dark and gloomy circumstances.

Where do we turn to when things go awry? Who do we seek out when in need of soul solace?I’ve found that failing to turn swiftly to God only brings deeper misery. But if we make Him our first port of call, pray instead of trying to cope alone or pushing Him away, then He is ever faithful to come to our rescue.

I’m discovering the dependence which having chronic illness brings can cause frustration,  resentment and unwillingness to yield, but over time it begins to change our perception of surrendering.

The poem below depicts a dragonfly’s journey and also mirrors our human one as we learn to arise, lean toward the light,  become less dependent on self, and sense a bright, joyful welcome in God’s presence.

As dragonflies

dragonfly

We begin

earth grubbing silt and sludge dwellers

stuck mud-deep, dark glooming

in humanity’s squall,

little realising there is a way to climb

free from such insanity; drenched in

slime, smell of death clings fast,

seeping into all

We are

earthbound, plodding through endless days

of toil, rooted in routine, shielded

from questing thought

by the sheer monotony of the way

life trundles on, one day following

another in repetitious refrain, yielding

far less than it ought

We sense

a glint appearing; light wavering

glows slow with fronds emerging

for us to climb upon

Slim reed of hope, discovery,

shoots into view, enticing us to seek

rescue, release from watery grave

echoing a saving song

We rise

blinking in great wonder and delight

As dragonflies, our wings unfurl,

breaking free in dance

of grace, coloured and caught by Light

Every part on fire, shimmering bold,

aswirl with joy untold, glimmering

soul and spirit entranced

©JoyLenton2016

We wear faith like a fragrant garland around our weary necks while we press hard into each day’s demands, and we learn how to look for the Light, shake off the dust that clings tenaciously and lean on God for everything.

Our very weakness and fragility, far from being limiting things, become a special means of grace, an opening up to seeing God’s gracious hand at work in the commonplace.

It involves listening with spiritual intent to all our lives are saying to us, hearing the ways God reaches out in love to speak His wholeness into our brokenness.

God is always inviting us to join Him in the Light, to marvel as our beauty unfurls in the warmth of His presence, to see and sense what we have come from and where we are going to.

As we draw closer to Advent, I will be sharing more about our dark, earthbound condition and how God invites us into the airborne freedom of His Light. I’d love to hear how this season is speaking to you.

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how our joy is increased in looking up

/ Joy Lenton / 12 Comments

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We have a tendency to want to shrink God down to understandable, manageable human size, thinking we can contain Him within our own hopes and dreams. But He remains unconfined, free from any restrictions placed on Him by our finite minds.

If anything speaks to me of God’s infinite glory and majesty, then skies definitely do. Because how can we view an ever-changing panorama of colour, sunsets soaked in shades of vermillion, clouds threaded with indigo-violet and tinged with tangerine, without marvelling at the Hand that made it happen?

It certainly cuts us down to size when we compare ourselves and our human achievements to the fathomless mystery of Holy God and a vast universe. What an invitation to raise our eyes heavenward! What a revelation of God’s goodness and grace seen in our everyday ordinary.

We are designed to fly, to soar and rise above our earthly circumstances, and we only achieve it by looking up to God, seeking His face as often as we need to. He alone can provide all the help and grace we need.

As I think about what a gift it is to have sight, to be able to appreciate all that is poured out before us, I ponder: Maybe the secret kernel at the heart of joy is in the looking up? Maybe having eyes cast down, heart heavy with worry and anxiety, face creased into a frown, makes us too earthbound?

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In the healing of Blind Bartimeus (found in Mark 10: 46-52), Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimeus answers, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”  And ‘anablepo’  — which is the word for “to receive sight”, when literally translated in the Greek — means: “I want to be up-looking.”

It makes us wonder at all he missed in being blind, and how much we, too, can neglect to see properly, even with perfectly functioning eyes. Our physical eyesight might be acute but our inner spiritual vision can remain blurred, distorted by wearing worldly lenses.

In this request to Jesus, Bartimeus is displaying not only a desire to be able to view the world around him with open eyes, but also a spiritual hunger to have a God-given perspective, an upwardly mobile gaze that takes in far more than human eyes can see.

The poem below (originally shared in the Association of Christian Writers (ACW) ‘Christian Writer’ magazine) reveals different ways of seeing.

Watch the Wind

I watch autumnal leaves

scattered in the street

They remind me of the way

I too am curled small inside

dying a death to flesh

And as they bow

to wild wind’s will

lifted higher

in its arms

I too am lifted up

above the daily grind

into the joy

of a sacred dance

©JoyLenton2015

*Note* – a God-given, inspiring germ idea which birthed this post came from my dear friend, Laurie Klein. You can visit her site by clicking here. I think you’ll love it as much as I do. She’s an amazingly gifted writer, poet and photographer.

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Welcome to #day29 of #write31days  journeying into joy. I’m so glad you are here!

How do you view being upward looking in life and faith?  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

 

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joy in looking closer to ground

/ Joy Lenton / 10 Comments

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Sometimes we just have to look closer to ground or make an opening to discover hidden beauty. A swathe of green or concealing dark shadow can temporarily stand in the way of a revealing, as can distraction and lack of attention to detail.

On city streets people’s eyes betray an inner leaning. Some have their sight continually downcast, glued to a device in their hand, whereas others fix their gaze on the horizon, or scan sky’s vast panorama as they move around.

But those who still their souls, whose inner vision is honed and who look beyond the obvious, will be rewarded with a fresh perspective and feast for the eye. They will sense things close at hand offering an eternal perspective.

In seeking to discover joy and beauty in the everyday, my natural tendency is to stop, stoop and see whatever is low to ground, wanting to grasp and hold close those things near at hand.

I have caught many aspects of loveliness in the lowly things as I look for them. Even weeds can be appealing, because they are really only flowers growing in the wrong place, aren’t they?  God hides His treasures, those daily grace gifts we’re apt to ignore and take for granted, in plain sight for us to discover and enjoy.

“I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel” ~ Isaiah 45:3 NKJV

Lily of the valley rises as a delicate offering when days are just beginning to warm and hearts are more than ready for a sign of summer to come. Their white bells ring out a sweetness we respond to with eagerness, sounding a death knell to winter-dark and a welcome invitation of spring.

“To see a World in a grain of sand,

And Heaven in a wild flower;

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

And Eternity in an hour…”

~ William Blake ‘Auguries of Innocence’

The immortal lines above reveal how much can remain hidden to us when walking along and looking around. We can easily miss the messages God is sending us. There are touches of heaven everywhere, seeking to infuse us with eternal joy in the here and now.

My own imperfect poetry is an attempt to suggest similar things…

Seeing is believing

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My eyes tend to be drawn down to ground

where I focus on a flower or two

as camera lens captures the profound

 

What if I viewed each flower as a vision

not just of loveliness and perfect petals

but of heaven’s breath? Would my seeing

 

look beyond the human eye, encompass

a greater depth and breadth, stretch toward

eternal skies and find God’s presence sits

close by? Maybe each leaf and flower

 

are inviting us to sense much more

than eyes devour, lovely as it is,

and teaching us to train our souls

 

to be on the lookout for heaven’s

kiss. If so, then I don’t ever want to

miss their offering, but pause instead

 

to marvel how eternity is written

deep within our hearts and concealed

soft within every living thing

©JoyLenton2016

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Welcome to #day28 of #write31days of journeying into joy. Bless you for being here! It’s been quite a marathon, hasn’t it?

As this series draws to a close, so our focus slows a bit, leading to small ways of discovering joy hidden in plain sight.

 

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bearing and sharing joy seeds

/ Joy Lenton / 12 Comments

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Rather like a tiny mustard seed of faith, joy is also a seed we nurture within, water with God’s word and encourage to flourish and grow.

Joy takes root in all of God’s children, swells best in thankful hearts and expands exponentially the more we share it, thus sowing seeds in the lives of others.

Though we need to hold on to joy, especially during tough times, we’re not meant to carefully horde our joy, but spend it freely, give lavishly and liberally just as God gives to us.

We bear the mark of Christ in our hearts, because His footprints are found within every believer. We also bear His seeds of love, hope, joy, mercy and compassion. Each day provides fresh opportunity to release those seeds into society.

What can stop us is our perceived unworthiness, or living with a scarcity mentally where we fear losing the good things God has already given us.

The good news is that there is plenty to go around, an abundance, in fact. God is no man or woman’s debtor. He is a faithful, loving, giving, generous God and our lives are meant to mirror His character.

And here’s the thing – joy given away is joy multiplied. We actually experience an increase each time we give our joy away to others. How good is that?!

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Joy seeds

Let me scatter joy seeds

fling them wide from my fingers

spread arms in a cruciform shape

reach out to the edge of existence

heedless of the direction they take

 

May I be profligate

with them, not counting

the cost of giving, but

losing myself in mercy

because joy is never lost

 

Maybe something will take root

rise up strong in future days

and new life produce shoots

as it pushes through dark

soil, rising with sun’s rays

 

Maybe all it takes is hope

wrapped up in a prayer

as I liberally sprinkle

seeds of joy everywhere

©JoyLenton2016

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Welcome to #day27 of #write31days of journeying into joy – I can barely believe we are nearly through this series! Thank you SO much for joining me.

I hope and pray you are taking something positive and encouraging out of these posts and I’d love to know how they are speaking to you. Thank you .

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how joy coexists with sadness

/ Joy Lenton / 8 Comments

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It’s often a surprise to discover how joy still sits within a sad heart, because our painful times can make us feel so empty and dry, devoid of hope and distant from God.

Yet joy is always present in those who have God’s holy presence within, sitting curled up with cat-like contentment, waiting to spring to life the moment we seek for it, even if we’ve previously failed to acknowledge its existence.

When we search our hearts they feel drained and depleted, but when we seek God’s face our eyes and soul will eventually be lifted out of the darkness and desolation and into a sacred dance of joy – beginning as a tiny flutter on the inside.

God entreats us to stay a while, to rest in His presence until we begin to sense the faint stirrings of joy within seeping back into our spirit. He encourages us not to let our feelings have the upper-hand, because faith is expectant of receiving what it is believing for, knows God’s promises are trustworthy and true.

As we trust that joy will return, even out of our darkest hours, we find our souls slowly drawn more toward the light, inching closer to hope with each passing day. We begin to believe that ‘this too shall pass’ and life is worth living.

Joy is  a grace gift freely given when we abide in God and Holy Spirit dwells in us. It seems mysterious and otherworldly, because it truly is.

Co-existence

How can there be joy

at the heart of sorrow

 

and sadness co-exist

where there is bliss?

 

Yet somehow

they are mixed

 

and inextricably

linked as one

 

expression of life

and love and faith

 

and deep mystery

Part of all our tomorrows

 

in all the annals

of human history

©JoyLenton2016

Dear Father,

So many are struggling right now. Life is challenging and hearts ache heavy. We need a sense of perspective as much as we need your healing touch. Help us to see how very close you are, always ready to comfort, encourage and bless, full of mercy, grace and forgiveness.

Your hand is not too short to pull us out of any pit we may have fallen into, even those of our own making. We need to be aware of your presence with us, hear the soft whisper of your voice, know how dear we are to you as your beloved children.

Grant us encouragement from your Word and the ability to receive all we need to revive flagging spirits, lift weary heads, ignite hope, restore joy, bring rest and peace.

Help us to realise these seasons will come to their own conclusion in your perfect timing. And as we cooperate with you in coming through them, we will be able to see the lessons we have learnt.

Enable and equip us to sit in the ashes alongside our suffering brothers and sisters and offer them the same comfort, help and strength you have given us.

Amen

*Note* – you can also discover more about how hope and joy can be found in the midst of grief and sadness in another post from this series – just click the link to read it.

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Welcome to #day26 of #write31days of journeying into joy I’m so glad you are here, friend!

The poem above comes from my book, ‘Seeking Solace: Discovering grace in life’s hard places’. It was birthed out of my own struggle to discover grace and seek joy in the midst of painful circumstances.

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searching out the joy bringers

/ Joy Lenton / 11 Comments

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I don’t have to search much to find the joy bringers in my life. For instance, I love (in no particular order) – curling up with a good book, spending time with family, drinking coffee, eating dark chocolate, reading and writing poetry, scenting sea air, watching day seeping into dusk and sunset, being outside,  laughter, company, connecting, silence and solitude.

Some of these are easily achievable now; others must wait for the right timing, opportunity, sufficient health, strength and energy to coincide. You’ll note some of them seem contradictory. That’s because I’m a reflective, contemplative introvert at heart and also a woman who savours being in touch with others!

While I relish having a writing outlet, and derive great satisfaction and pleasure from many things, it is relationships most of all that provide me with the greatest joy and pleasure.

I delight most in family and friends, knowing and being known, loving and being loved. God’s purpose is primarily for us to be in relationship with Him and with one another, to be life enhancers and joy bringers as we shine His light in our daily lives.

What does being a joy bringer look like? Does it mean having a perfect, joy filled life? Far from it. It’s more about joy in knowing God and sensing His hand at work.

“Joy is not gush. Joy is not mere jolliness. Joy is perfect aquiescence – acceptance, rest – in God’s will, whatever comes. And that is so, only for the soul that delights in God” ~ Amy Carmichael

Because God-shaped joy transcends circumstances – it is mysterious, wondrous and liberating. When our lives are less than joyful, we can discover it afresh in recognising how we are held, strengthened, kept and comforted in our hour of need.

God’s constant presence is what stabilises our see-saw emotions and gives grace to cope for one more day, then the next, and so on, providing the means to endure or overcome.

The joy we have is in being able to cast our cares and burdens on the Lord, release our worry and anxiety. We can rest in knowing God is dealing with our problems, granting us grace to wait, offering His perfect peace while we pause before receiving answers to come.

And you know what brings us magnified joy? it’s the ability to care, to hold one another in prayer, encourage each other on the journey and share the blessings we receive.

“When large numbers of people share their joy in common, the happiness of each is greater because it adds fuel to the other’s flame” ~ St Augustine

Today I invite you to search out your own joy bringers and reflect on ways in which you are able to offer joy to others, because what we focus on most tends to define our days.

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Welcome to #day23 of #write31days of journeying into joy

It’s a joy to have you travelling with me, especially as we begin to wind up this series.

Each day has been an adventure of faith with God providing abundantly! 

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joy in becoming wounded healers

/ Joy Lenton / 9 Comments

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Our wounds cry out for attention. Pain screams for relief. We ache to be better, long for our brokenness to be fixed, and often try everything else at our disposal before asking God to assist us.

Yet what the world offers so often feels like a sticking plaster approach. The hurt goes on festering within, covered over and concealed as it may be. And more than that, without the right attention wounds worsen, grow septic, cause greater danger to our health.

Soul wounds are no different in this respect. They require the Healer’s touch, often deep excision to cut away all that is not fitting for us as children of God. It hurts. It really hurts, but in a good way. Becoming whole is more than a slow piecing together again, sealed with a hug and kiss; it’s complete renewal, total transformation that is needed.

The world may help us with many things but our greatest soul solace is to go to our Saviour, rest in  the comfort of His presence, learn wisdom from His loving heart. We seek the solution only God can offer – complete cleansing and mending. And when we do we just might hear Him speak,  like He whispered these words to me…

Prayer Whisper: Wounds and Joy

prayer whisper image

 

“I, too, bear wounds. Mine are in My hands, feet, heart and head for eternity. I bear the wounds of sin and pain for all humanity. And I will pour the oil of joy into your wounds, bind up the hurt and soothe your pain with My peace.

You will walk as a wounded healer through this world as your wounds enable you to bring My love, compassion and care into the lives of others. You may not be fully healed of them in this lifetime, but you will be able to live with them

Joy waits on the other side of grief and sits with sadness. It is more than a feeling. It’s a chasing after grace, a deliberate turning in My direction when you feel low and wretched.

Joy is a conscious choice you make as you decide what direction your thoughts will take. A mind redeemed and renewed by My Word is a mind set on peace and joy.

Open the windows of your soul and see its presence. Open the door of your heart and let it in. Joy is yours for the taking.”

Our wounds and problems make us feel less than useful or able, so it seems surprising to think we are well placed to help others while we remain wounded ourselves. I believe we can be wounded healers because we know what it is to be broken, dependent on God for the healing we need.

Most of all, we know the Healer himself, sit under the protective cover of His wings, experience His help in all things, witness Him changing us or our circumstances, and are grateful recipients of His grace, mercy and peace.  We can joyfully point the way to our Saviour and be the means of refreshing others.That has to count for something, yes?

31-days-of-journeying-into-joy-badgeWelcome to #day19 of #write31days of journeying into joy.

Do you see your broken, wounded state as a potential means of grace? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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