Surgery hurts.
It’s good, usually, but it HURTS.
Surgery is a more drastic measure needed when other less intense or less invasive solutions haven’t worked.
This holds true in all areas of life, and of course, I’m talking about motherhood in this instance.
Sometimes there are things deep inside of us, hidden behind hurts, lies, offenses, trauma, ways we grew up or were raised, hopes and dreams dashed or finally realized (etc.), that need to be DUG out. Yuck. Ouch. Gross.
It’s real.
Just like, as mothers, we occasionally have to dig out a splinter from a hand or foot of one of our children, God needs to dig things out of us.
And, just like our children sometimes loudly protest (by this I mean scream, cry, and generally make lots of noise) and have to be held in place in order for the offending piece of wood to be removed, so we, as mothers have to submit to the loving hands of our Father in heaven, despite our desire to scream, cry, avoid, run away from, and escape the work needing to be done.
Mainly, this surgery is heart surgery, and on a spiritual level. It actually affects every part of us…who we are, how we interact with others, the kind of job we end up doing, whether we live every day in victory or defeat.
“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” - Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
This is the kind of surgery that hurts…so good.
It can HURT so much to have it done, but afterwards, the freedom and healing that come are SO GOOD.
Lately, God’s been taking me through a faith exercise that is strengthening, stretching, growing, and digging out incorrect ideas and beliefs I’ve had about His goodness and provision.
Wow, is it NOT fun to go through, but oh, so necessary!
When times get tough, tight, or hard, it can be so easy to run back to where we’ve come from, to how we’ve handled things in the past, whether good or bad.
Most of the time, that is what we fall back on, and it ends up determining our “knee-jerk” response. It takes effort to pause, recognize we’re going down the same unhealthy path, and then ask Holy Spirit to help us take a better path.
A lot of times this means rewiring our brain pathways and creating new habits, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
We can’t do this without the powerful and transformative help of the Holy Spirit. He is our Comforter, our Helper, and our Counselor.
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever–” - John 14:16 AMPC
If we have Jesus in our hearts and have a personal relationship with Him, Holy Spirit is a gift that will never leave. He lives inside of us and is always there, ready to help in whatever way we need Him to.
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” - Ephesians 1:13-14 NKJV
Sometimes we don’t know what help we need. That’s okay. Simply say “help me”. He understands and will immediately bring us what He knows we need.
“So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will. [Ps. 139:1, 2.]” - Romans 8:26-27 AMPC
Spiritual heart surgery often times looks like the following…
Getting rid of the lies we’ve believed about ourselves and others and replacing them with the precious Truth from the Father.
Inviting Father God to speak to us in places where we have experienced trauma so that it can be released from our minds and bodies, enabling us to move forward in hope.
Letting go of hurts and offenses and truly forgiving whoever needs to be forgiven (ourselves and others), starting the healing process, and our journey to true wholeness.
All of this brings us into a higher level of freedom and functioning in our motherhood and our other callings, as well as intimacy with God in our daily lives.
So, mama?
Let God do His good work in you. Submit. Surrender. Let it all go into His caring and gentle hands and trust the process. Don’t give up when it gets intense. You will get there! I promise.
And you will be SO glad you went through it.
Hugs, mama! You’ve got this!
Xoxoxo
Kristi
The Motherhood Revolution™ 