Healing

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by Maya Logo
04/12/22
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I am trying to make lemonade out of lemons. I keep refocusing after enduring hardships in silence and without support. It is similar to the plight of a man named Nehemiah. The walls of his city were in ruins. So he set his mind to rebuild. As he began the process his opponents came to destroy his work and rob his hope. They did not like what he was working toward. It was not so much the work he was doing in that moment. It was what the work implied. It was what the work would inspire and produce. He was building hope, courage, and faith. This is an excerpt from his story:

Nehemiah 4 The Message Bible (MSG)

1-2 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he exploded in anger, vilifying the Jews. In the company of his Samaritan cronies and military he let loose: “What are these miserable Jews doing? Do they think they can get everything back to normal overnight? Make building stones out of make-believe?”

11-12 And all this time our enemies were saying, “They won’t know what hit them. Before they know it we’ll be at their throats, killing them right and left. That will put a stop to the work!” The Jews who were their neighbors kept reporting, “They have us surrounded; they’re going to attack!” If we heard it once, we heard it ten times.

13-14 So I stationed armed guards at the most vulnerable places of the wall and assigned people by families with their swords, lances, and bows. After looking things over I stood up and spoke to the nobles, officials, and everyone else: “Don’t be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

The enemy did not want the disheartened, oppressed, dejected people of Israel to get any ideas. They did not want them to believe again. They did not want them to remember their worth and purpose. So they fought Nehemiah on every front. They called him names, slandered him, plotted to kill him, put obstacles in his way, threatened him, tried to seed confusion, and worked to sabotage his efforts. Nehemiah was rebuilding a physical place. I am rebuilding our lives. After divorce, people have done all of the above. They try to force me to feed a facade. They create obstacles and attempt to pressure me back to a dark past. My efforts to rebuild is threatening because of what it implies. It suggests that God loves people more than traditions, it suggests that abuse in any form is not acceptable, it suggests that we are more than what we are limited by, more than our circumstances, it suggests that life is about more than being accepted. It reminds those who have been through rivers of difficulty and the fire of oppression that they can thrive. I am not yet there. I have to work, like Nehemiah, armed but determined. Are you with me?

The weapons of our warfare are not physical but they are powerful for destroying great opposition. I will not return to my past or the limits of others’ projections. You do not have to either. So we keep working and moving in and toward our purpose.

My fuel is God’s promise:

4 You will be secure under a government that is just and fair.
    Your enemies will stay far away.
You will live in peace,
    and terror will not come near.
15 If any nation comes to fight you,
    it is not because I sent them.
    Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat.

(Isaiah 54 New Living Translation)

What is your fuel?

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