I may have written about this before but it's worth repeating. We were on vacation in Mammoth California one time and we were all excited to go hiking the next day. However, we woke up to a rainy day. Just like rain can keep you from the majesty of heightened senses by keeping you indoors. Tears can blind us from God's blessings and joy when we withdraw.
We made a decision that morning to venture out anyway. It ended up being the most spectacular day! The rain had made the rocks shine with all the colors in them. You know when you take a regular rock and it just looks dry and kind of ugly but then you put water on it and you can see it's glory. It's the same thing on our days of tears. We can stay hidden in our sorrow but if we choose to see God in our situation it's the same as when the rain falls upon the rocks. The rain makes the dry earth look like a rich myriad of browns against the soaked leaves that are now glittering from the raindrops. The rocks reveal all the hidden colors in them and the smell of the rain in our senses makes everything seem alive. We can have that same experience when we look through our tears.
What we experienced that day was magnificent. We made a choice to see past the elements. We looked beyond what we thought was a hindrance. Just like when we feel down or depressed we can make a choice. We can focus on our sorrow or we can focus on the anointing from God through our tears. Through our tears God's promises and blessings become more clear and alive. We are choosing where we are going to put our focus. A day that can seem dull and dark can become vibrant if we focus on God. In that stillness, if we seek him in it, he will reveal the hidden blessings, no matter what our circumstances are.
In our busyness when we feel energetic we can bypass the beautiful things that God bestows on us. The deeper things are revealed through tears. The deeper beauty and richness of his love for us is clearer. By choosing to focus on God in those times it enables us to see his comfort, his kind and gentle presence, his ability to bring beauty out of ashes...
I recently realized that I never really knew how to rest. I only knew fight or flight and that kept me in a constant wired state in my nervous system. I just came through a dark time and I sought God which enabled me to see his light, his love and his comfort. I allowed those insights to teach me how to be strengthened in my faith and to truly learn how to rest in him. I learned how to be kind to my parasympathetic nervous system. I actually learned how to see myself like God sees me. Through a lens of kindness and gentleness. We so often allow shame and guilt to rob us of the blessing of rest. This time though, I embraced that beautiful insight from God and just like the rain brought out all the colors of nature, he revealed his beautiful character in my life. I rebuked negative thinking and negative words and begin to speak his powerful words over me. I knew scripture very well but he showed me that there's a difference between having it in your head and allowing him to make it come alive in your heart.
I encourage you to see your tears as rain. Let them open up prisms of God's light. As he lets his light shine through your tears you will be able to see colors and depths of his character and love that you would never be able to see in the absence of tears. Allow him to reveal to you the beauty that is hidden in our sorrows. The most incredible gift from God is to be able to praise him not just on the sunny days but also on the tearful days.
He knows sorrow and suffering on a level that we will never understand. But what comfort it brings when we are in that state knowing with full assurance that the man of sorrows sits with us to comfort us.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God". 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
