The "What If?" Challenge

Image by laurakgibbs via Flickr

Last week, the Faith Barista, Bonnie Gray asked me to particpate in her "What If" Challenge.

I responded with the following list of five what ifs :

What if I believed God truly is for me and not against me?
What would I do knowing He would move all of heaven and earth to accomplish His work through me?
What if I really wrote that book?
What if I finally learned how to organize my time effectively?
What if I forgave every person who I ever felt hurt by?

Bonnie asked us to post today on how we met the challenge and link back to her.

I must admit I'm not sure that I've made much progress this week toward making these a reality.

I have meditated on the power God has to work all things for good, which touches on what if I believed God truly is for me and not against me and what would I do knowing He would move all of heaven and earth to accomplish His work through me?

I posted another excerpt from my NaNoWriMo Challenge work for last week’s Flashback Friday, so that counts as progress on what if I really wrote that book?

I haven’t even started on what if I finally learned how to organize my time effectively? I’m too disorganized to begin, I suppose.

The need to forgive has been following me, knocking around in my heart and spirit. The Holy Spirit is gentle yet persistent, convicting me that what if I forgave every person who I ever felt hurt by is a challenge I must meet.

As I pondered and mediated this week, I sat down with my journal and my Lord, and this is what Jesus had to say:

I am holding your broken heart. Even as you extend it to others, it remains in My hands. I know when you hurt, little one, but I am the One Who calls you to love. Your heart cracks, then grows as it heals. The bigger the heart, the more pain it can feel.

No, I didn’t create you for misery, child, but to feel a portion of what I feel. You have a heart in training, learning to love against all odds, those who do not return love, and those who seem most unlovable. When that heart bleeds, not for itself, but only for the pain of others, its lessons will have been well learned.

You have asked Me to use you. And I do, and I will. But as you surrender, it is not your choice of use, but Mine.

Does the clay tell the potter what form it should take? So too must you allow Me to craft a vessel suited to My purposes. As I broke for you, you also, little one, will break for Me.

Then help me to know Lord when the pain I carry is not my own, that I might bear it well.

Keep looking and listening to Me. Other voices swirl about like winds and create confusion. My voice is Truth and Light and brings you revelation and wisdom. Voices that bring darkness are not Mine.

We will open each room in your heart to discover those things that do not belong there. Some were indeed proper for a season; others were never supposed to be stored there at all. I already know what your heart holds, child. Now it is time for you to see as well.

I see netting around my heart, almost as if it’s there to keep my heart from falling apart, but it also stops it from growing. Have I used this net to protect myself?

Indeed, like a safety net – old patterns and beliefs, that you think will help you if you fall. Only I can catch you, little one, and I will.

Nets can be cast off. Chains can be broken. Walls can come down. Your heart is in My hands.