When God Says, "It's Time To Move On"

"And the Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended." Deut. 34:8

"Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous... for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

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I didn't tell you just how much the death of Lennon the Cat devastated me. I couldn't write about it, not fully, nor could I even share with Tom my sadness and usually I can tell him anything. But the grief struck deep, the regret, also, for I felt I'd let Lennon down. For some weeks I flailed in an ocean of sadness, though of course, while holding onto God's hand. 

God, the one who always keeps me from totally going under in any situation.

But then? There came a day, an hour, when God told me 'the days of weeping and mourning for Lennon are ended.' You know, just as he told those ol' Israelites in the verse, above, about Moses. He said the time had arrived to let go. To move on. To move past this tragedy with a strength and courage He would give me over on the other side.

But for the courage and new strength to come, first I must lay down my grief. The first move had to be mine. He wasn't going to rip the grief right out of my hands, no, He'd only take it after I'd laid it down upon the Road of Life.

Probably each of us have heard similar words, instructions, and I believe God has major reasons for asking us to fling away sorrows and rejections. Namely, He knows that clinging to that stuff will open wide doors to spirits of grief and whole seed packages of unforgiveness and bitterness.

It's one thing to spend necessary time grieving--it's healthy, even. 

But it's a whole other thing to clutch that grief tightly for the rest of your life. That's like preparing a nice, comfortable bed for a spirit of tormenting grief to poke you, shove you around, ceasingly, for the remainder of your days.

And it's one thing to feel the sting of rejection from loved ones (and then seek healing comfort from God), but quite another to clasp the offense close, allowing a root of bitterness to creep up from the deepest part of our heart, only to become, in time, one tall plant of bitterness.

There's a time to hurt and a time to heal. A time to cry, a time to dry our tears. A time to stand still, a time to move on. A time to hold sad feelings, a time to drop them so to move freely, joyfully down the road, becoming a hopeful sight, a helping hand to others who are bogged down in the mud of gloom.

God's time tables are perfect--and if I move along accordingly--His strength, His courage, His healing will be there to meet me at every sad or scary hairpin turn down the road of Life. 

And then may I be a light, a help to those limping down the road beside me.



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