Saying No To Freedom

Her grief, confusion, hurt, and anger poured out across the phone lines.

All I could do was listen and sympathize.

I felt helpless in the onslaught of all this pain.

So I did the most powerful thing I could do…I prayed the entire time she was talking.

“Jesus, open her eyes! Let her truly see You!”

She has heard the gospel in all its entirety…twice.

Twice, she has reached out to me in her pain, searching…endlessly searching…seeking peace that never comes.

Because…she will not bend the knee to the Prince of Peace….Jesus…the only One who can give her the peace she so desperately wants to possess.

“I’m not ready….” she has whispered in the past, tears streaming down her face.

Ever the Gentleman, Jesus grants her request to pursue life without Him.

So she continues to be imprisoned by her pain…tortured by long nights filled with “what-ifs” and “if-onlys”…forever feeling unfulfilled because those she loves do not have the ability to make her whole…mentally ripping the bandages off wounds that remain unhealed and will not be silent.

The pain screams.

And the Healer waits.

He longs for her to turn to Him. He desires to release her from the enemy’s ruthless and relentless grasp.

He is the only One who can flood her soul with Peace and Joy. His  brilliant and powerful Light would dispel every bit of the deep darkness that now covers her heart.

He can take all her pain and transform it into something beautiful…beauty for ashes is His specialty.

He is the only One who will not be driven away by the depth of her need.

If she opened  His Word…His eternal love letter… He would tell her that she is lovely and precious to Him…that He rejoices over her life with heavenly song…that His plans for her life are grand and glorious (even when it hurts)…that He loved her enough to die for her and He wants to spend eternity showering her with His love.

She doesn’t want any of it.

This is incomprehensible to me and it breaks my heart.

I know this One.

He has set me free. He has healed—and continues to heal— what was/is broken in my damaged heart. Every day is a love affair with Him, no matter how hard or long the road.

He captivates me. He takes my breath away. He pours His love into my heart and opens my eyes to see that His glory and beauty truly does fill the whole earth.

He has made me whole.

I want this for her.

So…I will continue to pray for her as long as there is breath in my body, knowing that I have a Savior who desires that all would come to repentance and find true restoration and redemption.

“I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts…” (Isaiah 65:2, Amplified)