Hi Everyone,
Something struck me today that I’ve never really seen (this is very likely NOT commentary-correct but it spoke to me).
It’s John 5: Jesus goes to the pool of Bethesda and asks the man who had been lying there 38 years if he wanted to get well. As the story progresses, the Lord heals Him but the Lord does not simply say, "Get up and walk." He says, "Pick up your pallet and walk." So I asked, why not just, "Get up and walk?’"
So my thoughts based on my life. I layed on a pallet for many years. That pallet had inscriptions of pain, hurt, betrayal, loss, shame, deep sin, and the list goes on. It was stained with tears, stained with sweat, and dirt ridden- BUT it was my bed and I understood it, somewhat survived it, and was many days able to settle into its confining frame.
On that same pallet I would ask, "God do for me what I can’t do for myself!" Then in moment, God made me well and - although the pallet no longer supported me- I "carry" it as a deep reminder of the graciousness of God who made me well. It is not a burden but what I carry as a testimony; a reminder of who I was and who He is! And that "pallet" of inscriptions that once defined me is overwritten with His inscriptions of who I am! That pallet that was hidden by my feeble frame is now raised by my hands in worship to say, "Look what God did!"
And I walk with that claim day-by-day as He writes more and more.
Much Love,
Cari