Have you ever been to a junkyard? It was quite the experience to visit one on the Restorable Retreat hosted by Jen Mininger!
The purpose of our visit was to see if anything in the junkyard spoke to where we found ourselves in life — spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. I went into it eager and ready for a deep healing. I had a “thing” in mind I was certain God was going to lead me to. Instead, aisle after aisle I ended up in a dead-end, after dead-end, being forced to turn back and retrace my steps. You can imagine my frustration, as it felt a whole lot like life lately!
Can you relate?
Just as I was about to give up and head to the entrance, a wave of determination came over me and I decided against my better judgment to crawl over and through aisles of junk. Guess where I ended up?
Right back where I started, in front of a Ford truck propped up on tires in the middle of a clearing. I walked by this truck in the beginning, resisting the pull to pause and ponder for a while. In this moment, however, I rocked back to take in the full picture. What was the story? What was the message for me?
As I stepped closer with curiosity, wondering about the missing “F,” I found myself running my over the letters and marveling at the beauty in paint-chipped, rusted-down metal.
In that moment, God whispered to my heart, “Darling, there is beauty, even in the broken. But you’ll miss it if you keep running after your idea of what life should be like.”
I took another breath, this time with a surrendered heart. Okay, “Lord, show me.”
Curiosity peaked, as I wondered more about this truck’s story. How did it get there? Who sat in that driver’s seat? Who was the passenger princess? What stuff did it haul around? Leave it to the therapist and writer to want to know the story, right?
As I walked around to the back, I discovered it had a whole lot of junk in its trunk. Kind of like me! Maybe a lot like you?
Wondering about the junk, God preached to my soul. Just like this truck, I’m in a place I never intended to be, a bit beat up from the journey, feeling like things have been ripped out, crushed under the heaviness of falling things, and wondering what is next for me.
While I may never know the story of this truck, and its future appears to be destined for the junkyard forever, the same is not true for you and me.
There is more to come!
Sure, our circumstances may never look like what we expected, but that does not mean our lives are without purpose.
Our lives are restorable!
Maybe it simply takes releasing our expectations and receiving what is before us right now, while thoughtfully and purposefully unloading the junk we don’t need to hold onto, to experience the beauty found in the brokenness of the life we get to live in the here and now.
If you need to catch a vision of what restoration looks like in your life, I’m here to help.
Book a Discovery Coaching call so that I can help you can determine your best next healing step.
