Some of you may remember my post about encountering the Lord: I was worshipping and telling the Lord how HOLY He is, and I saw Jesus open a door; it was SO bright! And soon after that, the vision ended. I remember wanting to stay and asking for it to come back!
Days later, I was in my bedroom worshipping the Lord and I felt His presence in the room and so I was talking with Him and I asked Him why the door opened but I didn't get to go through. The Lord answered, "One only enters that door through suffering."
[This year is 2024, and the number 4 means "door". This is the year of the open door. In 2014, God opened the door for Living Deeper Ministries, and now, in 2024, God has opened the door for a home for hurting women who need a fresh start.]
So, I knew what God said about the door: that I couldn't go through without suffering, but with an 8 year calling coming to reality, I was not prepared for the days ahead. For when this should have been the greatest most exciting days of my life, these have been some of the darkest and hardest days of my life.
As I have come before God, He has continued to say, "Stay up on the wall." just like Nehemiah. And while I have done just that, this has been a deeper HARD.
So this past Sunday, I just sat with the Lord in stillness and quiet. I am not really sure how I did this, but somehow I got to a reel by a lady who I so admire named Jessica Koulianos. Here is some of what she said on that reel:
When you feel persecuted, betrayed, or misunderstood, "start worshipping and loving on Jesus, and He makes everything so beautiful. And this is what prayer does: it kills pride, flesh, desires, anger, hate and confusion. There's a beauty in brokenness.
There's a side of the Lord you see when you become broken. It's a holy invitation that He is inviting you into. To know a side of His heart; and I think He has allowed us to walk through these things because He wants us to be like Him and it's hard, but it is the way of the cross."
And just like that, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord was speaking to me. Suffering is a deeper invitation to intimacy and transformation into the likeness of Jesus. It is the crucible where you die in even deeper ways and your heart begins to look even more like Jesus.
Suffering is a deeper invitation to intimacy and transformation into the likeness of Jesus.
So, if you are in a place of suffering right now, invite God into those places, those circumstances. And know that He has offered you an invitation, as well, to come closer. To go deeper into His heart. It's a holy invitation, a deeper invitation, to know the heart of the Father, and let Him develop His heart in you. For "man looks on the outside, but God looks at the heart". 1 Samuel 16:7
"And we with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory as we are transformed into His likeness from glory to glory." 2 Corinthians 3:18