Unshackled Moments ~ December 1 ~ Hope For Understanding

Maybe it's just me, but I doubt it. Deep within me is the longing to have someone understand me, who always understands me, who knows me inside and out and loves and accepts me despite the ugly mess that can be found in the secret room of my heart, in the stains from past spills and the junk swept under the rugs and hidden in the closet. I believe that is a hope common to mankind, to be known and understood and accepted.

And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's meant to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.

- Iris by Goo Goo Dolls

I always feel a little surprised when someone really seems to get me. Leah does, and even after six years it blows me away. I think that's part of what forms the bond between soldiers who have seen action, between addicts and drunks in recovery, and other groups where there is some shared experience that no one who hasn't been there, done that can truly understand. That common understanding often overrides the differences that can keep us apart. But to look to people for that understanding will eventually lead to heartache, because no one can completely know and understand another. We can't even completely know and understand ourselves. That's why there is some universal truth that we can relate to in the idea that no one understands me.

But someone does understand us. That hope, to be known and understood and accepted, has come to be a reality. God took on flesh! He became human and walked a lifetime in our shoes. He was tempted in ways that we are, He experienced the happiness and misery and frustrations and conflicts and wonder and awe and every other emotion that this life can induce. He knows what we've been through and understands, because He's been there too. But unlike other people who are lost in themselves and limited in their understanding, He understands what makes us tick. He knows why we do the things that we do, why we react and act the way we do. He knows our true reasons and motives behind everything even better than we do.There actually does exist someone who knows who we are, even better than we do.

And here's where the most dangerous and scary part of this hope is fulfilled. He loves us and accepts us. He doesn't say shape up and get right and we can be friends. He doesn't tell us to get our act together and come to Him. He says I love you just as you are, come to me and I will clean you, I will empower you to do what you can't do, and I will transform you into all that you were created to be. I won't hurt you or kill you because of the ugliness, confusion and fear that you think no one else can understand and instinctively feel the need to try to hide. I knew about the mess before you did. I can see it and understand it on a molecular level. I won't judge you for it. I came to give you life, to set you free and make it better.

If you're like me, and hoped for someone to truly and completely understand and accept, but still feel afraid to completely reveal yourself for fear of rejection, or afraid you don't deserve acceptance, that you're past is too messed up, you're too dirty, too screwed up, I have good news. Hope has come and is alive and loves you and accepts you. You don't have to attempt to reveal yourself because you can't mask or hide the truth from Him anyway. He knows you. He understands. He loves. What greater thing could we ever hope for?

Well, there is one added bonus. As you begin to truly understand that you are loved and accepted by God, the acceptance of people loses some of it's importance and it becomes easier and easier to drop the masks, pull back the curtains and stop hiding. This is me. I'm not who I want to be and will be, but I'm better than I was. I am a mess, but a lot less so than I was before I surrendered to the One who can heal and restore. I am still a sinner, but I am also a saint saved by grace. I don't have to hide or pretend. I can show the world who I am, and you can too.



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