Week Five: A Perfect Mess

It was another exciting night as we continued our journey through A Perfect Mess by Lisa Harper. Chapter five, When God's People Lose Their Groove, proved to be another rich chapter as Lisa shared with us, her readers, how God's love frees us to grieve honestly while never losing sight of the supernatural hope we have in Him.

The basis for this chapter was this... What does Psalm 42 teach us about dealing with our less-than-lovely emotions?

What? Less-than-lovely emotions? Are you kidding me? Are Christians entitled to having less-than-lovely emotions?? Really?

Well I certainly hope so!

Last night I shared very openly and candidly with our women's group about my most recent messy-life story. I bore my soul about a situation that happened recently with my daughter and how I let my less-than-lovely emotions get the best of me during an event that should have been nothing less than joyful for her. But thankfully we serve a God who is bigger and better than any problem we face. Thank God for His mercy and grace and for allowing us second chances as we struggle through the failures and frailties this side of Heaven. And as Lisa says on page 77, "Thankfully, the gospel frees us from pretending everything in our life is honky-dory when it's not. God doesn't demand that we be perpetually perky." I really needed to read this... especially this week!

We see a sort of internal wrestling match going on in Psalm 42 as the descendants of Korah express their obvious lament for happier times in their lives. You can see the struggle they had between knowing that their God was the rock of their salvation and finding hope and strength in Him, all the while feeling so defeated by their obvious struggle. It's clearly demonstrated in verses 9 and 10 when these words were penned from utter despair... "O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?” Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”

And isn't that our struggle at times. Lisa describes an example of this on page 80. Our mind wonders why suffering takes place at the very same time our hearts are praising along with "How Great Is Our God" on Sunday morning. Hands raised with heavy hearts.

I remember a time recently when I experienced this type of lament. When I felt this sort of wrestle with God.

It was 4 days before Trevor's surgery (a major life-threatening surgery) last June and I was at church. Here I was... a believer. A Christ-follower. The first person to tell about the goodness of a merciful God and yet I couldn't stop the flow of tears from my eyes as the worship music began. I knew my God "had this" and that no matter what the outcome would be - God was still good and I was still loved. But even as my head was filled with this knowledge, my heart was hurting and heaving for all that we were facing as a family. I can relate to the words of Psalm 42 as these were my own in those terrifying days of uncertainty.

And so I was comforted when I read Lisa's words on page 81... "There is no shame in confessing we feel far away from God; it certainly doesn't surprise Him."

We all face those times when we feel as though we've lost our groove. And you know what? It's okay! Psalm 42 "reminds us of the freedom we have to pour out the messy sorrows of our hearts to our heavenly Father instead of trying to suppress the sad stuff." (Page 83.)

I was stopped dead in my tracks as I read the line on page 83 that says, "And trying to cruise through life in the single gear of 'happy' makes for an ineffective witness. How can we expect others to connect with our faith story when we've edited out the hard parts, the parts they most identify with?"

WOW!

And so... I ask you this...

Are we becoming a road-block for people on their faith journey because we lack authenticity and a life that demonstrates our weaknesses thus highlighting God's goodness through us?

Our society tends to think censoring our pain is the real deal... but I disagree. I think it's time to "do real" with others. Just be real. By being real we will allow them to see that God can do so much more with us through our brokenness than He would ever be willing to do with our attempted perfectionism.

Lisa says on page 85, "Some of the most joyful people I know - certainly the most believable believers - are those who've waded honestly through woundedness. Those who've trudged through difficult seasons only to come out communing with God more deeply."

Through our brokenness... we can be made whole with our Savior.

And she says it again on page 86, "Authentic joy is often forged in the kiln of ache. Horrible messes really can lead to hope-filled messages."

She ends with this most beautiful imagery on page 87... "When we tell God where and why it hurts, we will experience divine embraces that last until our souls stop quivering. We will hear comforting whispers that mute our cries of distress. We will sense nail-scarred hands, reaching down to tilt our faces toward Him, followed by the promise, "I'm right here... I'll never leave you."

Oh thank you Jesus!

And so I end with asking this question of you... What happened on your most recent terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?

Tell God about it. Tell Him where it hurts and how horrible you feel. He understands the suffering. Remember - He too felt the shame of undeserved punishment. He felt alone and deserted. He felt rejected and abandoned. He knows. He cares. He loves and He has promised to never leave you or forsake you.

He can and WILL use you if you give Him all of the broken pieces of your life.

You are beautiful. You are loved. You are a child of God.

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



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