My niece just had a baby a couple of days ago. What a cutie! So innocent. So trusting. So honest about expressing his needs. We’re rejoicing that he’s finally here, safe and sound.
We were all like him at one time. Honest. Trusting. Dependent. And then, life happened.
Little by little we learned that it was dangerous to trust. We came to the realization that our honesty was not always welcome. We discovered that our needs were often misunderstood, ridiculed or even worse—totally ignored. We lost the innocence that allowed us to just be ourselves without needing to be guarded, second-guessing, or fearing. Each new awareness made the world seem less and less safe.
We’ve spent a lifetime trying to get that safe feeling back. We’ve shut various people out of our lives. We’ve attempted to distract ourselves with a variety of activities. We’ve numbed ourselves with chemicals or compulsive behaviors. We’ve even tried to convince ourselves that that it didn’t really matter—we could live without it. But none of our efforts have given us back what we lost.
God is the only one that can restore what we really need. He’s the only one that can soothe our ravaged hearts and help us learn to trust again. He’s the only one that can reach into the private fortress we have built and nudge us to reach out. He’s the only one that can bring safe people into our lives to help support us in the restoration process.
Although we will never be blissfully innocent again, God can help us find things that will serve us even better—a solid faith, strong healthy relationships and an underlying satisfaction with ourselves and our lives.
Our part is to let him.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast — 1 Peter 9:10
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