Longings Re-visited
(This is a re-posting of an entry I made in December of 2005. I post it here today as a reminder that we have been and still are passing through the season of Advent.
Tomorrow is the last Sunday of Advent.
A time of waiting, hoping, even longing for the Messiah.)
Longings
“All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.”
Psalm 38:9
Twelve years ago, my heart was heavy and I didn’t know why. I tried to name the heaviness that had hold of me, to explain the sadness so that I might get a grip on myself, but I couldn’t explain it. It nearly paralyzed me emotionally.
Over a period of several weeks, I was able to grasp at least some part of the thing that had immobilized me: I wanted something, but I didn’t know what it was. Then I realized I felt alienated from everything that had been familiar to me, and suddenly nothing I had or knew was enough to fill the need in my heart. Weeks passed, numbness set in, and before long I didn’t even care that I had no feeling about anything in life, nothing interested me. The spark, the joy, the aliveness had left me, and I could not explain the empty shell that walked around day after day with my name.
I turned to prayer. I didn’t know what I was asking for, I didn’t have the words. Sometimes I just laid in bed at night with no words in my mind, which I came to recognize as a good thing. You see, with no words in my mind, with no thoughts cluttering up my head, no songs, no noise, I was getting empty inside. I didn’t know I was doing that, but every night I becameemptier and emptier, and one night I was so empty inside that there was room for me to let God in. And when I let Him in, He filled the emptiness with His love. He actually rescued me, pulling me from the depths of the sea into which I’d been thrown.
That’s how I felt when I woke up the next day. Rescued. Saved. Alive.
He knows what we need. I suppose if you know what you need, it’s good to ask for it. But God is so big He already knows, even before you do, what you need most. Sometimes He waits for you to recognize what you need and ask for it, and other times He just waits for you.
When He waits for me, all I have to do is show up. On my knees. With an empty heart for Him to fill.
He waits for each of us.
Prayer: Father, we thank you for the new life you give to us every day. You know the longings of our hearts. We wait to be filled with your all embracing love so that we can embrace those who live in darkness. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Click here to view Morgan Weistling's Our Refuge and Our Strength
bgilmore725 at 11:45:00 PM EST Blog about this entry
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I am glad you found the love in your heart, Bea. I'm gald you have peace
Marti
http://journals.aol.com/sunnyside46/MidlifeMusings/ -
Thanks for sharing that, Bea. It was a very touching post. I wish everyone would take a hold of this time of the year and realize that all the gifts, the lights, the everything that happens now happens due to one thing and one thing only - the birth of our Savior.
~ Caroline ~ -
Wonderful post Bea. This is the true meaning of Christmas.
Love,
Marie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mariealicejoan/MariesMuses/ -
What a moving post!!! Thank you! And, thanks for linking me here, Bea! Our paths cross on many journals... nice to find each other's too!
be well,
Dawn
http://journals.aol.com/princesssaurora/CarpeDiem/
1/11/08 12:55 AM
love,nat