Hephzibah. Flight.: Out of the Mud and Mire

"It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them" (Hosea 11:3-4)

It's humbling to realize that He looked down in the pit of muck and mire and He chose me. That He saw it all and said that my heart was beautiful to Him. That He didn't just look at what my situation was or who I was but what He was going to make me into. That He knew I'd say yes. That He knew I would run after Him sometimes full of joy and love, sometimes full of distrust and unfaithfulness, sometimes full of sadness and smeared mascara; but I'd run after Him.

To be completely honest, my childhood was not the greatest.
There's worse, I'm sure, but mine is mine....and what I can speak to.
And I say this not to elicit sympathy or bask in some sort of self-pity but because I think there are times the Lord wants you to mourn things you didn't have and rejoice in what you do.
This is one of those times.

The truth is, there is no logical reason I should be a fully functional, motivated, successful young adult; but I am.
There's no reason that I shouldn't be continuning every generational cycle that's gone before me for generation after generation; but I am NOT.

So why me?
This is a question I ask Him all the time.
Why me, Lord?
Did you know I'd say yes?
Could you see how badly I wanted someone like You even before I could see it?
And, I don't really know why.
I only know He reached His hands down inside a pit of mess, of dysfunction, of carelessness, of mother and fatherlessness, of neglect, of rejection...and pulled me out. And He has never let me return.

Psalm 40:2 "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand."

And He didn't just stop there. Slowly, He started to weave the new story. He protected and covered me, He spoke to me with relentlessness, He chased me when I didn't know how to let Him be a Father or love me, He showed me what love was, and He brought people into my life to fill in areas I needed filled.

And once that was set, once the Cornerstone was put in place, the old house was demolished, and the new one was built...He switched it all. He showed me it was not about me.

It was about everyone else.
It was about breathing life into everyone else.
To show them the lengths He would go for His beloved.

Will you tell people what I have done, Meg?

Will you let them know the lengths I will go for their safety?

Will you speak to the power of My love?

Because the story was never meant to stop there. To stop with me.

I was meant to glorify Him.

I was meant to speak into the darkness of young girls' lives the power of light.

And not with some general understanding, with power that comes from having Him do it in mine.

This is what the Lord says to His anointed,

Whose right hand I will take of to dubdue nations before him

And to strip kings of their armor,

To open doors before him so that gates cannot be shut:

I will go before you and will level the mountains;