Oh, the radio feed of the people watching and doing play by play of the super bowl victory parade was palpable joy. Oh, the comradery spirit I could feel expressed itself in tears as I listened, while driving, and I could feel/hear tears choking up the commentators – for not the win of the game but the win of the city-wide, worldwide JOY and thankfulness and EXUBERANCE. An EXUBERANCE that we CAN be exuberant. WOW. It was great weather too. Fair-weather fans of teams, who root for the local win, were combined with the die-hard fans who never gave up hope in a team of underdog grit and determination.

Jesus is not a fair-weather fan, He sticks with you in the storms, in the gutter of a season, ESPECIALLY when you feel down and out. And then, on our part, we can reach back and up and out to Him riding the waves of JOY, as in a parade, as well as when we feel washed up on shore… Jesus rescue comes before we sink.

And what about our eternal JOY – if we feel born again into our new lives as God’s children, shouldn’t we ride that wave of EXUBERANCE?

Two old blogs came to mind recently when chatting with a friend who is having recent crying spells and sadness. I thought about how we could cherish the water of our tears, even if maybe only in hindsight, because it meant/means we are still alive, still able to feel and not hardened by the world, and compassionate for situations of pain, including ours. 

Jesus wept too – His relationship weeping in the death scene of Lazarus included weeping for those sisters and onlookers who didn’t realize that in Jesus and in God and in Spirit, death of body comes one time but death of connection to God comes continuously. There is good promise for us in death, therefore Jesus was feeling the pain of both wordly separation and divine divide of people not remembering peace and promise in ever-after. In Jesus’s Salvation, we have completed and complete healing. In Jesus’s presence, we have a go to that never leaves, His comfort. 

These blogs I hope are good for helping us with healing in both relationship and separation times, by reminding us to be RELYING UPON THE LORD, in Spirit and Truth – in all times – at all times – for all time – especially NOW and especially for our tough days… They say that those who hurt the most are held the MOST close to Jesus… I believe that is TRUE… I believe that IN SPIRIT and in TRUTH. 

Amen 

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These are 2 healing writings I wrote both for myself and for others, worthy of resharing. I could edit my original first section “By design I realize now that our hearts are human for aching but Holy for healing” to add: “we are weak to be strong” – which I know now is what Paul wrote – that in our weakness, HE is strong!

———- 1 ———-

Heart Hydration Healing Hope

By design I realize now that our hearts are human for aching but Holy for healing. First step in Healing is Hydration. Dried ripped pieces, and the cavity they came from, can be fed again with a trickle of loving water even if dormant for a long time… Visualize torn heart strips touching then seeping in the water of creeping love that buckles and bends them up from their onion skin-like frailty as they come back to life. Imagine grayness starting to feel colorful in delight. Delicate stillness of repair that is not human, the dip of the pieces into healing hydration and see osmotic not cosmetic changes taking hold.

Some pieces are lost, maybe you can keep living without them, other surrounding areas will compensate and you won’t crumble. Maybe some areas are too calloused to recover. Some pieces blew just out of reach, you can see them but chasing after them is probably not worth it – not compared to now harnessing the useable power of your now reworked hydrated heart to simply move forward. Use what you have regained so far..  Walk away from the worthless worries. Work into newness...

Someday your heart will replump enough to be ready… Embrace the journey… Learn.

Maybe you are being healed by Him for Him…

Holy hydration, when You are ready, my heart is Yours to give… Your to use… Yours to keep… Yours always…

Embrace the journey to healing…

——– 2 ——-

Closure to Open
a Holy Thursday Reflection

A counselor once told me: “You need closure, so that you can open up fully…”

I thought that was an interesting juxtaposition of terms – of closing to be open…

I’ve been praying on that irony… and I understand. To close wounds allows us to redirect our energy, our purpose, our hope. God heals and we help by allowing Him to do His work.

The Living Water of Jesus was purposefully directed to us, His flow allows us to LIVE.

A rose waiting to bloom is ready to open, but not until directed cues cause the water to enter the petals, the cells to expand, and a bloom form for the eye to behold…. see, feel, smell the sweet aroma of life.

Can you see your heart like a rose ready to bloom? God holds your heart petals together. Can you see how the closures of leaks would not remove the water that may have leaked thru the tears but redirects the water into hydrating flow that will grow you? He will bloom you. He makes all things beautiful…

“You need closure, to open fully…”

Jesus thru His death and resurrection brings back the sweet aroma of life, today, everyday, evermore. Back to the Garden… Easter is the opening, the redirection of His Spirit for our future to be realized in the present – God wants to be known. He blooms new life into us because of closure of Jesus’s short earthly form. The flow of Living Water now available for all.

“You need closure, to open fully…”

Closure is a process none of us takes lightly, nor can we try to force it… Any time we need closure, remember that it’s because Loving God wants redirecting of His Life in and thru you… to open you… to bloom… to bear fruit…. to LIVE… to LIVE now… to LIVE again…

Amen