The above quote is underlined and highlighted, bracketed and starred... in my copy of Cymbala's book.
Those words work well for what I feel like the Spirit has been impressing on my soul for this week. And they speak loudly to a world that's pained.
So many people in my sphere are finding themselves in dark, hope-void situations right now.
And it's crushing.
Even me here.... I'm sitting in such an odd season....where certain situations just seem near impossible to mend.
This very day....I have caught myself in moments where I'm wondering down the lane of a quiet despair.
And I'm discovering that this is more commonplace than I once thought. The more people I get to know - the more brokenness, pain, and joylessness I see.
Oh mercy, we need a Savior.
Yesterday, I mentioned that I felt strongly about us being a praying people over the next few days....
....people who almost search out situations of gargantuan impossibilities - so as to usher in God to them.
I've already seen a glimmer of His goodness this week in a few friends' lives - but I want more. I so desperately want more.
For them....for me.
Because God....
He is still in the business of unbinding and binding.
Like with Lazarus - Christ orders the unwrapping of our grave clothes and sets us free to move about and live.
He snaps chains, and opens cages, and cuts chords....unbinding us from evil.
But at the same time - He binds us. He binds us to Himself.
Like a broken finger is bound round tight to the healthy one next to it - He splints us right next to Him....in Him, even - and there we are made healthy and whole.
So know....
That in the seemingly irrevocable - He can order a total turnaround.
And where all seems black - He paints a light-reflecting hue.
We must pray fervently, this week in particular, that it be so!
And as we look back....and see the dark in the distance against a forefront of shining color.....
....we will marvel at the contrast and kneel in a praise-filled thanksgiving.
