Through Broken Lenses

It's been a painful year. Both physically and emotionally.
I have said it before and I will say it again with deeper knowledge and experience:

Pain has a power more than anything else in life

to strip away everything of in-consequence and leave foundations bare.

Pain stops you in your tracks and speaks of things.
It tells a story.
It makes us stop.
Did you know that only 6% of your nerves communicate pain?
The rest keep you alive.
So if you are getting messages of pain, it is more than likely that other life processes you can't feel are also affected!
There is a whole lot going on in my life right now in my extended family that I am not able to share.
As a result of some seriously painful situations and circumstances...groan..I have come to realize that we all view life through broken lenses.
Our filters are clouded and distorted.
all we can do is cry out in our distress. Cry out loudly and trust  God.
Trust the One who made us and who calls us to himself.
Our relationships surround us and we are so woven together..so intricately involved..and yet...we walk alone.
We answer for no one but ourselves.
We stand and account for our beliefs, our behaviors.
We see NO ONE clearly.
We ourselves are viewed through broken lenses.

"But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height,

for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. 

People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  

~ 1 Samuel 6:7 ~

We only see the outward.It's all we see, even when we peer deeply.
We interpret as through a glass dimly:

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

~ 1 Corinthians 13:12~

It's blurred.
We are making decisions every day.... limited.
We're fractured to the core and yet..He is making all things new.
The heart is what concerns God.
The heart is what should concern us.
People are precious even if their behavior isn't.
I need to intentionally love.
I need to not rely on my glasses.
My heart has broken this last while.
My mind is wrestling every thought, every emotion into captivity:

I will not rely on my own understanding...

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight."

~Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

 

The pain hurts...something is wrong...
I am in distress...my only hope is in God.
Trusting.
Holding tight.

Fixing my eyes....on Him alone.