There is an account in the bible where Yeshua asks a man born crippled if he wants to be healed. Maybe he did not understand the question, trying to rationalize what He must really mean because his answer did not plainly say yes or no immediately. But Yeshua, who knows the heart of a man, declared a healing and the man stood up for the first time and took physical steps!
The question really compels me to think that this man was not just answering for his body to be healed. You see, he had been crippled from birth! Boys would have been taught their father's trade by 12-13 years old. They would have been a student, an apprentice, been on their way to manhood. But this man would not have had that opportunity. The law gave allowance for him to ask for money and provision from everyday people who saw fit to shower him with kindness. He had spent a lifetime being dependent.
So being healed meant so much more...it meant being willing to learn a whole new way of life. He would have to hope for someone who would apprentice him, teach him, help him transition into daily living. (There was not time to make arrangements before saying "yes".) He would have to be willing to embrace the healing process of his very identity and being that would unfold from this healing moment... if you know what I mean. One "yes" to Yeshua ends up being a thousand more "yeses" if we stay the course.
In my yes to the Father, in brokenness and process, there have been a thousand more yeses. Each step is a choice and yet the further I go forward I see that forward is all I desire. I want to encourage you that if you are in a transition, if you have said yes but you are waiting for the next shift, I understand that it can feel difficult and uncertain. After all, life as you knew it and life as you expected it to unfold has flipped. Your very identity has felt shaken. Stay the course. Rehearse the rhema (the promise that gave you hope.) Be real with the difficulty of it in your prayer life. Pour out your heart! Turn your eyes to the One who has promised to direct your path. You may feel hemmed in and while that may seem confining, it is meant to be a place of safety. You can not mess this up if you stay the course. I am not saying you will walk perfectly but I am saying that forward focus allows for the Father to move you in the direction He wants you to go. He will continually shift you and guide you. It is not a set back. It is a set up. It is a continual relearning of all you thought you knew in order to receive new identity, new purpose, a new way of living.
Lots of love to my struggling family- to you, the ones who are tenaciously holding on to the promises in spite of what you feel and see in front of you. You are not alone.
Blessings,
Danielle
Psalms 123
2 Chronicles 20
John 5
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