Is it time?

You have a light shining in that jar of clay, you were a vessel of awe + wonder long before the lies came and laid claim.

Mark 5 tells a story about a father whose daughter is dying. This father has heard of Jesus and his ability to heal so he sets out to find him. When he sees Jesus, he falls at his feet and begs him to come and heal his girl. Jesus agrees and finally makes it to their house – after a stop in the middle that causes a delay. He seems to be too late. The family is weeping and mourning believing the child has already died. But Jesus tells them to stop crying because she’s only sleeping. Verse 40 tells us they laughed at him. To them, it was impossible that she was alive. It was irrational. To them, the story was over. It was clearly over and done – to them. But the next verse says otherwise:

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. Mark 5:41-42

Things are not always as they seem, even when they seem really, really over and gone. No matter how bleak things look or how long it has been, there is still room to be astonished by the presence and power of Jesus. No matter how your life has not gone as planned or what seems laughably impossible, your story is not over. Do not forget for one second that, like the dying little girl we just read about – you also have a Father deeply passionate about your healing, and a Savior he sent to bring it. You are fought for. That little girl’s father was not about to accept her story as over and your Father does not accept that either. Her father brought the Savior to her side and your Father has too. I don’t know how he’ll do it or if it will look like you thought it would, but I know that same invitation from Jesus is offered to you and to me: Little girl, I say to you, get up!

This is what Jesus came to bring. His fullness was always intended to reach us right where we are – in the brokenness, in the chaos, in the coming and going of our imperfect, everyday life – in the heartbreaking places & the break-neck paces. He steps into the laughably hard and dried-up dreams with fresh life. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to settle for anything less! Is it time we throw off the lies and pick up the truth with all the expectation our hearts can muster? Is it time we prepare to be astonished?

I think the enemy loves to convince us that maturity means radical acceptance that life just is what it is. But what if it’s not? What if that’s a whole lie we’re being sold? You may never see the world the same way you did before you walked through the difficulty of life. And you may feel like you’re drowning in the pressures and reality of your current season. You may have even walked through pain that has left you walking through life with a limp, the kind that stays. But life isn’t just what it seems to be, though we might feel powerless to change it. No matter what your experience has been:

You were a vessel of awe and wonder long before the lies came and laid claim to your heart and mind.

You were not created to tip-toe cautiously through this life. You were not appointed with the responsibility to carry the burdens of this world on your shoulders. No matter where you are now or how life broke your heart in the past, you were not meant to settle for living in survival mode. What if we dared to believe the story is not over? What if we let go of needing to understand how it could be any different and instead began to ask God to wake us up right where we are — to help us live and run and even dance — limp and all? Would you be in?

You have a Father and he sent a Savior. It’s time to live again.