She Dances Over Graves

Sometimes, when chaos breaks out in our lives, we automatically assign the blame to a person or to the realm of darkness. From all appearances, such moments seem to be nothing short of all hell breaking loose against us. But recently, as I sat with God, He gave me such a different perspective.

Not long ago I found myself in one of those times I was just talking about. Everything was fierce. The storm around me was raging, and my heart felt war-torn. I had done all I knew to do that was right, avoided all the wrong I could have done, and was genuinely seeking for God to rescue me.

One particular Sunday morning, I had a good cry over all I had been enduring. A woman I know, but not intimately, stopped to hug me and decided to pray for me. I didn’t know what to think when all of a sudden she said, “You asked for this.” And just to make sure I hadn’t heard her wrong, or might have been tempted to dismiss what she had said, she said it again: “You asked for this.”

First of all, I need to clarify that there is no way possible she could have known what “this” was. And second, she was right. It didn’t soften the shock of the truth she had spoken, but it reminded me of something I had forgotten somewhere along the path of my painful journey: with God, everything is connected. And with God, everything is filled with holy purpose.

When God sent Moses to free His people from slavery, it was an answer to their prayers…possibly prayers they didn’t believe God had heard, but prayers they prayed nevertheless. And the ones who couldn’t pray, but spent their days groaning in pain and frustration – the ones whose shattered dreams cried out from their graves – God heard their tears. When Moses showed up, it must have been a breathtaking scene: their rescuer had arrived. Their pain and suffering were going to end.

Only that wasn’t how the story went. In actuality, although their rescuer had arrived, there would still be even more pain and suffering to come. In fact, their slavery would get worse, their taskmasters would become more brutal, and their dreams would be even more shattered than they were before.

But not because Pharaoh was so powerful. Not even because the demons arrayed against them were so fierce. Instead, their story would get worse before it got better because all of Heaven had broken loose on their behalf.

God had heard their cries, and sent someone to fight for them. Darkness fought back, but it was God who initiated the fight, and it was God Who would finish it. Though they would endure a raging war, the freedom and rejoicing, and the life they would be able to live on the other side of that war would be so worth every bit of pain and suffering they would taste. In their severe circumstances, God would show them He was God in a way they – and the world around them – would never be able to forget.

The woman who prayed for me that day didn’t know I had spent the months previous to our encounter reading through some of my old prayer journals. And what God showed me in those pages was the same thing she spoke, and the same thing He revealed in my recent change of perspective: I had asked for all of the chaos and pain and suffering I had endured. Not directly (who would?!), but in asking for freedom, in asking for healing, in asking for a changed life, I had asked for Heaven to break loose and come to my rescue.

It might sound strange, but that thought comforted me. It reminded me that God is the One in charge of all my circumstances, because I have entrusted my life and myself to Him. It reassured me that, what I was enduring, I was not enduring as a victim, but as a victor. It helped me to believe again that, though it isn’t playing out the way I ever would have thought it might, God’s ways are higher than my own, and I can choose to trust that He is not only in control, but that He is also good, and intends nothing but good for me.

So when the twists and turns in my journey get violent and I find myself shipwrecked on some seemingly random detour, I take a deep breath, thank God for answering my prayers, and start looking for whatever it is He might have for me to do or experience right where I am. Because He uses everything. He wastes no opportunity. And I’ve learned that, when all I can see are the things He isn’t doing, I need to start looking for what He is doing. And before I know it, I always find myself standing at the foot of a promise I went on a wild adventure to receive!

Here’s another thing I’ve learned with God: when you trust Him and agree to walk through fire with Him, He will not only bring you through it, but you will come out not even smelling like smoke. People would never know you’ve been through what you have, if you will just hang on and keep believing for all of Heaven to break loose on your behalf. Imagine, then, what stories you will be able to tell, and what lives you will be able to encourage when you do!

Dear Woman of Breakthrough, are you facing what seems like Hell’s fury right now? If so, close your eyes, breathe in deep, and ask God to help you see what He’s doing in it all. My bet is that, once upon a time, you asked Him for something you might have forgotten all about by now, and He is still busy making sure that thing is going to happen for you! All around you are hosts of angels warring on your behalf. May your eyes be opened to see that there are indeed more with you than against you today, and every day. And may your faith be greatly strengthened by it!

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