All Our Little Secrets

 I talked to a friend today.  She’s more than a friend.  She’s family.

She talked about her life and her pain and her regret and her fear and her hope.

She’s broken.

And I love her.

But she has secrets.  So many, in fact, that even though she’s an open book and will tell her story to anyone, there are still a few things in the corners of her mind that haunt her.

And I recognized all too clearly that most of us have them.

Some deny them. Some believe they’re the only ones that would be shamed if everything were brought into the light.  Some are exhausted from trying to outrun them. Some carry them like anchors that drag them to the deepest, darkest places of some personal hell.

And all I wanted to do was love her and convince her that those secrets don’t define her.  They don’t make her less than a treasure. They don’t mean that God has turned his back on her or that she can’t  shake them loose and soar.

Then I realized how restrained I am by my own secrets – and I could only hug her and spend the day praying for us all.  For God’s people.

For freedom

For joy

For healing

For hope

For love

For life

For grace.

He knows.  He loves. He forgives. He sees it all — and He loves anyway.

“I know you made a home inside this heart of stone, so turn it into flesh. Spirit, soften it.

I give you all I have. I’m holding nothing back. Jesus I am yours. Jesus I am yours.

Take over, lover of my soul.  Take control. I surrender, there’s nothing I want more than to know you, Lord. “ 

Shane and Shane  “Take Over”