Sit by me, broken-hearted friend.
Jesus sees you. You know that?
He sees how your head hangs low. He knows how it can all feel like a fresh bruising.
Maybe it feels like someone cracked your dream right in half. Like the enemy wants to steal your hope, leaving a gaping wound in your soul.
Maybe it looks like the miracle is too far out of reach now.
I don’t know all the details, but I know the One who does.
Friend, can I tell you a story? When you see a tree waving in the breeze today, maybe you’ll remember this story about a tree:
It’s a story about a blind man who needed a miracle. Some people brought that blind man to Jesus, begging the Healer to touch him.
Jesus put his hands on that man, and asked, “Do you see anything?”
The man looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” (Mark 8:24)
People looked like trees. Not like people. But trees. It was a fuzzy misrepresentation. It was, like, half-seeing.
That man wanted clear vision, but this was just a fuzzy picture. Maybe it looked like the begged-for miracle was a bit too hard for Jesus.
But the miracle was already happening, even if it was still fuzzy around the edges. Once more, Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes, and the man’s eyes were opened. “He saw everything clearly.” (Mark 8:25)
Friend, the fuzzy picture may well be your miracle in progress. May I hold your hand today, and maybe we could remind each other that sometimes our miracles look like trees, with gnarled branches waving in the wind.
But one day, we’ll be able to see it all clearly. And we’ll remember how He touched our eyes…
(How can we pray for you? What’s your “tree” today?)
Jennifer Dukes Lee also encourages us to never give up, When You Want to Throw in the Towel
Jennifer Dukes Lee used to cover crime, politics, and natural disasters as an award-winning news journalist in the Midwest. Now, Jennifer uses her reporting skills to chase after the biggest story in history: the redemptive story of Christ. She blogs at www.JenniferDukesLee.com. Soon, her words will make their way into her debut nonfiction Christian book, Love Idol: Letting Go of Your Need for Approval – and Seeing Yourself through God’s Eyes. She and her husband live on the Lee family farm in Iowa with their two daughters.
Thanks for these words today. Just this past week I sat with my cell pressed tightly to my ear so not to miss a single word my husband was saying. Telling me the news we have waited 13 years to hear. Answers to knees spent bent over and over. The company sold and God blessed and my tears fell. All I could feel was how much God loved me. That He sees me. He really sees. And in the midst of these past years, of autism, and chronic illness and migraines, and adoptions, and not knowing when the pay would come. My heart longing to do great things for Him, and learning I already was. He saw it all. And even though, I don’t know what happens next. I know He sees.
Rejoicing in answered prayer for you. I know that feeling of love that comes over us when God finds favor and grants our prayers that way. May He continue to bless your family.
Oh dear Jennifer, how these words spoke hope to me and to my sharing with a friend whose heart aches right now. thank youfro sharing this
I so needed this today . We so need a miracle. I live in constant physical pain, my husband will be unemployed as of Friday and we have a dream to start a non profit and encourage others but we seem to hit a brick wall every time we turn around. So, today, I am tired, wrung out. Thank you for speaking life into my weary heart.
Don’t give up, seek the Lord’s strength and direction. Seek protection from the enemy as he fights to keep you from succeeding in serving the Lord. May you soon be up and running and your ministry be blessed.
[…] Discover more encouragement from Jennifer Dukes Lee in For the Bruised Hearts and the Ones Waiting for a Miracle. […]
You have no idea how much I needed this today. I have been praying for a friend of mine to come to Christ for 2 1/2 years. I wish I could walk through the ups and downs of the past couple of years here for you so you could see how God has been working. This week I had a disappointing week, expecting something that didn’t happen with my friend and I still haven’t heard from him to know what went wrong. The enemy woke me this morning encouraging me to be angry and stop praying for him. My friend needs the Lord Jesus Christ. I know God is working in his life and God is in the business of changing hearts. The WAITING for his salvation has been the theme of God’s teaching for me…”wait for My timing, as it is perfect”, not to mention strengthening my faith and dependence on God. God showed me this story of encouragement on this day, so I would continue to pray, have faith in what He is showing me He wants me to do and not give up. This is where my “fuzzy trees” come in because right now it’s hard to keep having hope, especially after this week. I am weary and feel my spiritual strength being “worked out”. But I believe that my miracle will be made clear very soon. Until then I will smile and rest in the hope and peace of my fuzzy trees. Thank you for this and please join me in prayer for my friend’s salvation, this is the miracle I’m seeking in my life today.