Whatever it is…. you’re deepest pain, your greatest fear, your suffering, your devastation, humiliation, emptiness, your loss, your grief, broken-heartedness, aloneness, emptiness, sorrow, your shame, guilt, regret……you’re in the experience of whatever it is and the pain feels unbearable. You’re at rock bottom. There’s no where to go for relief or comfort. The reality of whatever it is……IS. No one can understand, or even if they do or can to some extent, no one can know exactly. No one can go that far and that deep to really know and understand fully….completely. Only you know the reality of what you’re experiencing. In this moment, it’s all consuming. You can cry your heart out until there’s nothing left. You feel raw, bare, vulnerable and naked with the intensity of your feelings. This is all of you….the deepest of your heart and soul being poured out. No pretense, no falseness, just the truth of yourself and your feelings. Who can be with you in this moment, or who would you even allow to be with you or see you in this moment?
In this moment, there is only ONE who can know the truth of you….who can understand fully and identify completely. And it is here in your raw, vulnerable, most humble state, that you need to stop and think about what went on at the Cross. There is only one who has experienced every aspect of every kind of pain and suffering, all that you’re going through and more. He has experienced physical, mental and emotional suffering; he was betrayed, abused, beaten, mocked, put down, despised, misunderstood, talked about, lied about, taken advantage of, left and abandoned, and not only unloved, but hated. He can identify with whatever it is you’re going through. He knows you. He knows you intimately. He knows your history and every detail that has brought you to where you are right now. He sees and understands. There is a great comfort and relief just knowing that you can share in this moment, right here and now, with the One who truly does know. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. In this moment you can experience a true oneness with Him….knowing He is with you experiencing your pain, and maybe for the first time you’re feeling His. Let yourself identify with Him. Not just “knowing” that He suffered and died for you, but you’re experiencing some of what He went through. Acknowledge that. You have both shared the same pain and He is right there with you, going through this time with you. Let yourself feel His love. Experience this unity that you cannot experience with anyone else.
Then think about the fact that Christ actually knowingly and willingly chose to go through His most unbearable & painful suffering for you….out of love for you. The very experience and pain that you are trying to escape from, and would do anything to prevent, HE WILLINGLY AND LOVINGLY CHOSE TO ACCEPT. He did this for you and for those you love….your parents, your children, your spouse, your friends. What an unimaginable sacrifice of love this is. Can you even comprehend it? It’s important to let yourself really think about this because it’s true….it’s real….it happened. Someone loved you and valued your life that much! Let yourself experience the significance of this. Understand that there is one who would do anything to save you because of what and who you are to Him. This is LOVE. Personalize what was done here because He did this for YOU, not just those people, way back there, a long time ago.
Examine your love for Him and let it grow and deepen as you come to know Him better each time you make your journey to the Cross. He’s always there going through your experiences with you, but how often do you go to Him and share in His? How often do you really go back to the Cross to be with Him and let yourself imagine and remember all that He went through? How often do you acknowledge what it is He did? We’re reminded of it at Easter, but how often at other times do you really stop and think about it? What an ALONENESS that is for Him! We were all a part of His cross experience. He did what He did….for US. Such an act of love, that was done for us, should be something we want to intimately understand and remember always. When we have Communion, His words say “do this in remembrance of me.” It is important to go back and remember and to experience it and learn from it. We need to experience the depth of His love and continually be renewed by it, and through our remembrance, deepen our love for Him. Continue to grow in understanding of what God’s love is….the awesome enormity of it. You are a part of Christ’s life story. You are precious and priceless and a part of Him. His deepest desire is to share eternity with you, but you have to choose to believe and accept the gift that He offers you.
When you understand personally what He has done for you and you let yourself experience the significance of it, how can you not love Him back….with all your heart? When you understand that He is the only one that can love you completely and unconditionally, He will then become first in your life. When you share in those moments of unity with him, you will experience a love that is like no other. It cannot happen with any other human….only Him. This experience can give you the true understanding of His Identity. This experience brings truth, understanding and answers…..which brings you peace and joy and love beyond measure.
Do not resist or deny or escape from the pain in your life. Go to Him each and every time. Contemplate the pain so you can understand the root of it. Communicate with Him and let Him reveal truth to you. When we’re in pain, it usually has something to do with love. It usually has to do with people in our lives. Sometimes we need to just experience and accept the pain as an act of love. Those we love are worth it, and that’s a beautiful thing. (This is what He did for us.) Your love will grow and expand if you let yourself experience the fullness of it….which includes pain. Once you do, He will give you an inner strength which will sustain you. When you allow yourself to love, you experience God, for God is love. Remember, Christ in you, can do all things.
Willingly go to the Cross and treasure the times that you can spend with Him there, experiencing who He is and the depth of His love. His love covers all of your sins and fills all of your voids. He saves you each and every time! So much interaction and transformation can happen here at the foot of the cross. I believe it must touch His heart each and every time we willingly go there to meet with Him…..to not only go there for Him to meet your needs, but for you to go there to simply acknowledge Him and share in true Communion.
Reading all of this is just reading “about” the experience, but I encourage people that I share this with to think upon these thoughts when they’re in the reality of their own painful moments, times of struggle, or in prayer over their deepest needs, etc…
Once you’re there, experiencing your pain, you come to a place where you’re experiencing your honest self. You come to a place where you can confess, admit, see and understand the truth of yourself. There’s no barriers or filters….a great state to be in which allows truth to come in. We are open to hear, see and experience God’s Spirit. That’s why answers come and truth gets revealed. This too is where you can think about and identify with His pain and the truth about Him. You experience the comfort of knowing He knows yours and you can now share in His….not just as head knowledge but feeling some of what He went through. In this way you can now better understand Him. This is true communion.
Then as you continue and acknowledge “His Will” to accept His suffering, you can understand His extraordinary love. That in itself should fill your emptiness and so many of your needs and desires. It should also give a better understanding about the purpose of sacrifice. Love is not love until there’s sacrifice. The act of sacrifice is love being lived out. His great love should stir a deep gratitude and love for Him in return.
Eventually the focus shifts off of yourself, and you’ve come to love Him so much that you just want to get to know Him more and more and hear about His life stories. It’s a true relationship.
As we grow and mature as Christians and understand the significance of the cross, we now willingly make this journey…….to give back to Him.
— Regina is wonderful blessing in my life! A believing sister in Christ. Faithful to her Lord. A mentor and small group leader, a professional and loving mother. Thank you Regina for sharing this! May God bless you and keep you Sister!
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