I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it – made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand. – C.S.Lewis

No person can ever be replaced. Not even the smartest nor the most beautiful person in the world can ever match the essence of who you are. You are here because God willed you to be, because no one in the whole universe can ever substitute for the likes of you!

And that is why each day that you are in this world is a treasure. For none can ever put back the hours that you walked upon this life.

You may have failed to notice it, for you thought all that you ever did were simple things. Nothing extraordinary, it seemed.

Yet how could the days you spend not be special? How could each breath you take not be more precious than gold?

This present time that you are here is that special time when people can see you dance, can hear laugh, can watch you walk, can listen to what’s going on within your beautiful soul.

No one else is just like you. Be who you really are!

“Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you.” – Jeremiah 1, WEB

There are days when we’d rather go back and dwell upon the past than face the future or live in the present moment. It seems all the good things have happened already, and none of the things that can still happen could ever surpass our previous bliss. All that we seem to have is a great void for the present day, and a looming anxiety for approaching days.

Everything that seems to be worth having is already gone. Every plan that seemed to be worth taking is suddenly lost. How could we ever go on?

But we remember the promise given us. And we can’t shake it off our minds even if we can’t see yet with our eyes or feel them with our hearts.

We were promised not only the past, but the future, and all the blessed days in between. We were promised eternity, and grace for each moment that comes.

We may think like we’re walking the barrenness of the desert. Our souls thirst and ache, and our hearts are filled with doubts.

But let us not let go of our hope. And let us hold firmly to the promise given us. Even if we walk the driest land, God can give us streams of living water there. He will provide. He will make all things new. He will not only meet our expectations, He will surpass even our greatest desires!

Do not cling to events of the past
or dwell on what happened long ago
Watch for the new thing I am going to do.
It is happening already—you can see it now!
I will make a road through the wilderness
and give you streams of water there.
-Isaiah 43:18-19

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The lyrics I wrote for this song aim to lift our hopes up to that moment when God has beautifully revealed His marvelous works and carried us through the fiercest storms. It is not easy to wait until the rain stops. But we must look forward to that day when God has finally blessed us with indescribable wonders after the rain!

 

 

He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away. – Revelation 21, WEB

Sometimes, the darkness that covers the present moment is so heavy and painful, that even though we know God still watches over us, even though we believe that in the end, all things would work together for good, we can’t help but feel unbearable sorrow. Why must things happen this way? Why this indescribable grief?

And though we know that there will be an end to the night, even though we believe the sun will surely rise again, we can’t help but weep. For though such dark hours will certainly pass, it seems to pass so slowly. And while it lasts, eternity itself seemed to have arrived at our very door. A night of eternal sorrow. A winter that refuses to surrender into spring.

What can we do but wait ’til the night is over? What can we hold on to but prayer? And even though our prayers seem empty and dry, we trust still that the One who hears them lives! He is ever the same. He has sustained us in all our past woes, and He will carry us through though we may not know when, though we may not understand how, and though the only grace we feel is the strength to hold on for one moment more.

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Give me an ear and I will give you a voice.- Kahlil Gibran

How often have we found ourselves talking and explaining things only to find out that the person we’re talking to isn’t really listening but trying to figure out what to say in reply?

How many times have we found ourselves doing our very best to win an argument to prove our point only to find out that even after we win, our opponent would merely cling stubbornly to his own point of view?

Why not reserve your explanations for someone who really wants to understand?

Why not reserve your efforts for someone who really wants to listen?

We cannot change someone who doesn’t want to change or make people believe in something they don’t want to believe in.

But we can be ready instruments to those who are ready to discover the truth. We can await God’s timing, and then we can speak where others may start walking in the light.

One who corrects a mocker invites insult.
One who reproves a wicked man invites abuse.
Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you.
Reprove a wise person, and he will love you.
-Proverbs 9, WEBBE