This blog has been in my heart and on my mind for a long time. Choosing a name turned out to be the hardest part. Since I’m redesigning the site, I thought it might be a good time to tell you more about rubble.

I am blessed to be part of a women’s ministry that offers counseling to women. In one of our training sessions for new staff members, we do this great exercise using a backpack filled with rocks. In the backpack I use, I have most of the rocks named: shame, guilt, anger, grief, divorce, etc. You get the idea. The rocks are different sizes and shapes. Some have sharp edges, some are very heavy, some are small where it can be hidden away, and just a few are smooth, presumably from being weathered and worn, where healing has occurred.

A volunteer puts the empty backpack on, and everyone adds the rocks. The backpack gets heavier and heavier, until eventually it’s hard to hold onto. It’s a great illustration of the things that occur in our lives and how we carry around the weight of those problems and issues for so long, until we realize we need to seek healing.

I’m a very visual person. Each time I see these women laying down this heavy backpack, thankful to be rid of the weight, it brings me to tears. Sometimes the tears are for them, because I know a little about the healing journey they are on. But most of the tears are for me as I remember the first time I realized all I had been attempting to carry by myself. Before I knew there was a great God who would gladly not only carry that weight for me, but take on all of my future burdens if I only ask. Before I knew what it felt like to truly stand up straight, without the baggage I had come to think was a permanent part of me.

As I continue to seek God in all I do, I sometimes find myself still stumbling over some rubble from my past, or new pebbles that I’ve allowed to get in my way. My prayer is that you find a measure of the Grace God renews each day, appreciate the many Mercies He extends when we least deserve them, a call to forgive if you’ve not already heard it, and a beginning of true healing that only our God can give.

Blessings,
Lyn

Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (NIV)

            [Eglington Castle, entrance gates, Irvine, Scotland, 1890-1900]