DAY 26
Devotional by Carley Hanlon
Rejection. Disappointment. Doubt. Fear. Heartache. Pain. Although all of these emotions and feelings have the ability to show up in our lives, as you understand who you are in Christ it becomes a habit to reject and rebuke these emotions. As women, we are very in tune with our emotions and one of the hardest lessons I have had to learn is that I am the one who can control my emotions and how I respond to things that happen. I believe when we truly discover who Jesus says we are – that is living.
I have a dear friend who’s story may help you. She has experienced a lot of loss, pain, and heartache in her life, especially in the past 5 or so years. She is a strong, courageous, confident woman who you could look at and think, “there’s no way she has felt heartache the way I have.” The truth is, it can happen to any of us. Long story short, within a matter of years, she called off her wedding, a couple years later the love of her life unexpectedly passed away in a car accident, and a couple years later, she found herself in another break up. She has experienced more relational turmoil than anyone I know. I don’t tell you this so you’ll pity her or feel sad, but I tell you this to say that if she can overcome what she’s been through, so can you!
I keep saying to myself and praying to God, “Don’t you think she’s experienced enough pain?!” My friend went through the hardest things that a woman could experience. Loss. Rejection. Pain. But she has learned something very powerful through the many losses that she has gone through: in order for you to be able to love others as Christ has called us to do, you must first learn to love yourself, and second, understand what God says about you.
Isaiah 43:1b (AMP) says “I have called you by name; you are mine.”
The Bible tells us that we are God’s daughters. We are loved and adored by Him and His greatest desire is for us to be in relationship with Him.
My friend truly inspired me as she wrote on the second anniversary of the passing of the man she considered to be the love of her life: “On a day when I want to just be sad, I am making the conscious choice to be happy; happy to have known you and to be loved by you.” That’s just it. Thank God that He gives us wisdom, guidance and the power we need to control and overcome our painful emotions.
The grace and redemption of Jesus gives us the opportunity to turn our hurt into healing. We can turn our feelings of rejection into acceptance, disappointment into delight, doubt into faith, heartache into joy, and pain into relief. Why don’t you ask the Holy Spirit today where you need a perspective shift in your life so that you can experience the joy, hope, love and the fulfilled life that God wants you to live.