Relief // Five Minute Friday

Today, I'm taking the plunge into Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) where writers are given a word prompt and encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes.  No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart.  To find out more, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/.  This week's word is "relief".

Relief is the "removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing; release from a post or from the performance of duty." Great relief comes from surrender. It comes after those long nights of wrestling with God as He tries to reach for our past (our failures and the failures of others) and we continually slap His hand away out of pride and fear.  It comes after the tears that we have been afraid to cry begin to trickle (or flood) out.  It comes after laying aside those things that have weighed us down for years and seeing just how heavy and just how draining they really are.

Relief comes from forgiveness, from letting go, from choosing to move forward, from emptying our minds of years of clutter. Relief flows when we realize that sad things happen because we live in a fallen world with broken and godless people and systems, yet God has never once lost sight of us. It flows when we realize that we are not responsible for all the things that were done (or not done) or said (or not said) to us.  We are only responsible for ourselves, and we are the only ones that can accept that responsibility and either choose to move forward or to deny that responsibility and stay stuck for the rest of our lives.  Relief comes when we lay every.single.thing out before God because we are tired of lugging the weight of everything around. 

And sweet relief comes when we see once again what Christ has done on the cross and all that He has given us in Him.  Relief comes when we unclinch our fists and receive His love.  Relief comes when we open our eyes and see Him with expectation and without agenda.  Relief comes when we quiet our mind and let His truth speak to our thoughts.  And relief comes as we expose the dark depths of our heart to God's healing love and light. The relief of letting it all go ushers in lightness, peace, and freedom as it chases out years of heaviness and chains. 

"God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together, he gave me a fresh start.
Now I’m alert to God’s ways; I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works; I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together, and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes."
Psalm 18:20-24 (Message)