Dear Reader,

Greetings, friend!

Praising the Lord for His infinite love and goodness! He arrives every day with gifts of love and mercy! I look forward to opening each one!

I pray that as we have reached midsummer, your life is filled with restful play. May you find time each day to bask in the glow of His glory!

I am super excited to share with you that I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a part of the Brave Women Series by Becky Beresford! Becky is a writer, speaker, coach, and a wonderful woman of God. Each week she shares an amazing blog post by other Christian women who have lived courageously through the power of God!

This week I shared a devotional about the brave choice of letting God heal our wounds. Below is an excerpt from that devotional. To read the devotional in it's fullness, click here!​

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The Brave Choice to Let God Heal Our Wounds: Releasing Hidden Pain to Jesus

A little while ago my sock went missing and I couldn’t find it. It’s one my favorite socks because it’s navy. I have a ton of black socks – too many really – but I only have 2 pairs of navy socks, and I use them judiciously.

I knew they were in the laundry. When placing them in the dirty clothes, I kept them tucked inside each other. I only carefully separated them when I finally put them into the washer. I took careful note in my mind knowing that they were both there.

With the laundry finished, I began folding my laundry. Within the top layers of the pile, I came upon the first navy sock. I placed it among the other socks in a little pile having full confidence that its partner lay somewhere among the rest of the clean clothes.

Worry began to creep in as I got deeper into the basket and still did not encounter the second navy sock, but I brushed away the concern because I trusted the system. Finally, I arrived at the bottom of the basket to discover the other navy sock was missing. I looked again and again, but still couldn’t find it.

I moved the navy sock drama to the back burner of my mind and carried on hoping my treasured sock would eventually appear. Little did I know God would use this situation to teach me a profound lesson.

Lately, I’ve been dealing with an old wound that was never fully healed. The weight of the original cut had long since dissipated. I’d learned to move the pain to the back burner of my thoughts and move on with life. But pain is an interesting partner. The Lord has shown me it takes great courage to engage it.

The wound needed final healing. But would I be brave enough to face the pain?

Earlier this morning in my daily Bible reading, I encountered Exodus 6. Hearing the groans of His children living in slavery in Egypt, the LORD remembered His covenant with their fathers. Finally, it was time to pull them out of slavery and carry them into the promised land. At first, both Moses and the Israelite people weren’t sure if they were up to the task. At times, they protested. It would take courage to trust the LORD.

Could His people do it? Could He do it?

By the power of His name – I AM – He rescued His children! He claimed them as His own - He was the LORD their God, and they were His people. He healed their brokenness and restored them to life!

Excitement grew within my spirit as I read these words. Feeling the power of the LORD through the words of Exodus, my heart shouted, “That’s my God. That’s who He is. Yes, my God is LORD!”

With joy ringing within, these words stirred something deep inside and made me stop dead in my tracks. He had driven my attention to the unhealed wound. Held captive by the pain, I realized I had never fully surrendered this injury to Him, but I didn’t know if I was brave enough to let go and let Him heal.

Finally, I took the courageous leap and let Him in to examine the wound. Immediately the tears poured out as I cried aloud to Him and relinquished my pain into His hands. “Jesus! Please, heal me. Help me to not be held in bondage to my broken spirit. I want redemption and rescue from this pain. Please, heal me and remove my heartache!”

Later on I decided to wear navy. As I dressed, I remembered the missing navy sock. As worry washed over me, I heard His whisper. He gently nudged me to go and search for the sock again. I searched in all the possible places. I found myself in my boys’ room with an unfolded basket of laundry. Unsure of what I would find, I dug down deep. Rifling through each clothing item, I went nearly to the bottom, thinking I might be on a fool’s errand, when I found it! I found my missing navy sock!

Feeling overwhelmed by joy and relief, I heard Him say, “Here it is. Here is My healing. Go searching for it, and you will find it. I will restore you and make you whole again. I will redeem you and release you from the prison of this pain. You can trust Me. I am LORD.”

Again, if you would like to read the devotional in it's entirety, or find other articles in this series, click here to head to the Brave Women Series by Becky Beresford. You can find out more about Becky on her website beckyberesford.com.

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Looking forward to sharing more with you soon!

In the meantime, be blessed by Him!