STRIPPING

I find myself in a place where I am challenged to let go of all that is familiar around me... for the sake of growth.
There were people and groups that felt like 'home' to me and because of that, I had unconsciously ascribed them with the title of "A place where I live and breathe and move and have my being".
It hasn't been easy but it has been liberating.
Now, I know that I am going Home...my Father is Home.
God, Is my Home and I am going back to Him.

I am starting all over again.
I am going back to address my past and to deal with the skeletons in my closet.
I am facing the people I had shut out of my life.
I am asking for forgiveness in the places I ought to.
I am forgiving those who deserve my forgiveness.

I was struggling with going back to the Word of God.
Growth cannot come without His Word...and it was hard going back there.
But, I did...by no effort of mine.

I have learnt to forgive God...not because He did anything wrong to me but rather, because He made me understand why I had a troubled childhood.

I started from the Book of Genesis...where it all began.

I came across these verses in Genesis chapter 2:

18 Then the Lord God said, ‘The man should not be alone. I will make a helper for him.’

19 The Lord God had made all the animals and birds. He made them from the ground. And he brought them to the man to hear what names the man would give them. Whatever the man called each living thing would be its name. 20 So the man gave names to the livestock, the birds of the air, and all the other animals.

But the man did not find a helper. 21 So the Lord God made the man go to sleep. While the man was sleeping, the Lord God took a rib from the man. Then he closed up the place that he took the rib from. He closed up that part of the man’s body with skin. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman.

This is what I have learnt in these few days:

1. Daddy's goal for creating us is partnership. He wants a people who are for Him. He wants that relationship: as much as I do too. He made those animals, yet, He brought them to Adam to name them. All the while, He was saying to Adam, "Hey, I got you. We are in this together: you and Me doing this... together". 

He brought Adam work to do. But, He was deeply concerned about finding him a mate of his own. 

2. When Adam didn't find a mate of his own, Daddy caused him to go to sleep. 

Have you realised that sometimes, you get to that point of silence where you have no idea what is happening around you and yet, you feel like you are being stripped of something so vital to you?

I am learning that in life, Daddy oftentimes has to get us to go to bed!

He puts us to sleep...induced sleep. 

He brings us to a place where we have no control over what is going on around us so much so that we have no option than to just shut our eyes.

And then, Daddy rips us apart.

We feel that He Is taking away something so dear to us.

"Lord, please don't take these people away from me."

"Why am I losing these connections?"

"Father, please don't do this to me!"

And it gets hard.

Because, at this point, you become like a leaf: all those people you have seen to be a part of your life forever begin to disappear and it seems you have no branch to rest on. Sometimes, you have to take that decision to leave. Other times, you  just find yourself out of the picture of their lives. 

...and it's hard.

But see, that which the Lord is stripping you off is needed for the blessing that is coming your way. 

He took out Adam's rib and Adam had a wife.

He Is taking you out of that job, just so that you see the business he has established in your name.

He Is taking you from the lives of those you love, just so that you will see the bigger picture of the life He has prepared for you.

The stripping is necessary for the blessing coming.

It is a needed ingredient.

Guess what, not only does He bring you the blessing that was birthed from what you lost in the process, but, He Is also building in you, enough 'skin' in place of what you lost.

Verse 21 says that Daddy covered the place where He had taken Adam's rib from with skin.

The stripping not only brought him the blessing of a helpmeet but it also birthed in him resilience to face anything...even further stripping in the future.

Daddy gives us double for our trouble: He gives us the blessing that is evident on the outside and He blesses us inwardly with virtues of trust, patience and toughness. 

This position is one of trust.

Trusting in the sovereignty of a partner Who knows more than I do.

A partner Who sees me for who I truly am.

A partner Who knows what Is written in the Books concerning my life.

A partner Who thinks about me and Is always always watching out for me. 

He has brought me to a place where I ought to realise that this life is really about the TWO OF US.

I have said 'goodbye' to a people I call family in this process.

I have said 'goodbye' to the one I love for the ONE WHO LOVED ME EVEN BEFORE I WAS CONCEIVED.

And it's hard... sometimes, I am very sure of myself. Other times, I just don't know.

But, I do know that God IS with me.

...and this process is greatly needed. 

I have never been so unsure of what the future holds for me like I am now. 

...I am taking it a day at a time.

Let me share with you a piece of prayer I wrote in my prayer journal before I came across the Scripture text in Genesis:

"...I know I need Your Word. I know too much! Yet, I do none. In the meantime, I will trust Your Word and I will trust the process.

I respect You and I respect every decision You will take concerning me. Whoever You choose to cut off from my life, whatever it pleases You to take away, You can do it.

I came as one and so will I leave.

While I look on for what You will do, I will make the most out of everything you You bring my way..."

I don't know what tomorrow holds. Yet, I do know this:

1. God Is my partner: We work together. Where I fall short, He covers up for me. Where I lack, He provides.

2. My partner is deeply concerned about all that concerns me: He knows my needs even before I know them.

3. He Is busy about my business: He loves me! He will not leave me hanging.

4. Even when He brings me more work to do, and it seems like He Is not paying attention to my needs, I will not be shaken because I know He is thinking about me too. But, the work must be done.

5. My partner will not do anything to hurt me: whatever 'pain' that comes with the things I lose whiles in relationship with Him can in no way be compared to the blessing that is to come on the other side of this pain.

6. God Is building in me character: He Is making me a woman of character and integrity.

God has got me and We Are in this together.

...and that is all that matters...