itsawonderfilledlife

“I have nothing left … not for work, not for my kids, not for my husband, not for any part of my life that demands something of me. I have no more strength, no more energy, no more solutions. I am at the end of myself.”

As I listened to those words, I heard her heart … she had reached the end of her solutions, her strength, her abilities. She did not know what to do, nor did she have the energy to fake it any longer. She was desperate, in a position of having to rely rather than having anything to offer to others.

As I shared in her sorrow, I soon realized that, although my heart and desire was to help her ‘fix’ her woes, I was not her solution, I was not her Savior. I was simply ears to hear, and arms to hold. With that realization, I felt the immensity of the weight that she was bearing. After all, haven’t we all had moments at the end of our ropes … at the end of us?

Certainly it would seem that we mere mortals periodically get to the end of our ropes, with no hope in sight, yet hope is always there in the form of God.

The problem is, that when we are at the end of our ropes, at the end of ourselves, we sometimes need an intervention, we need one to step into our moccasins, and carry us to the one who CAN fill our empty spaces. To hold a lethargic, emptied soul and lift them to the God who strengthens, who fills, is the greatest of honors, the greatest of callings.

Writer, Ann Voskamp (and Dietrich Bonhoeffer) has said, “blessed are those at the end of their rope because they can be tied to God. Blessed are the broken for they can be gathered into belonging. Blessed are those who find themselves wholly empty, because they have space to be holy filled with God.“Only he who cries… is permitted to sing…” is what Bonhoeffer said.”

“In you I rest,
In you I found my hope
In you I trust
You never let me go
I place my life
Within your hands alone
Be still my soul”