Today I was reminded of a sobering dream I had not too long ago.
In the dream, I was in bed asleep. A little girl came into my room, she was four or five years old. She climbed up in bed beside me and with tears running down her face, she said, “Daddy lost me.” I knew when she said it, what she really meant was her Daddy had allowed her to get lost.
I wrapped my arms around her tightly and said, “it’s okay honey, you are not lost anymore, you are found, you are safe. You can relax now, you are safe, you don’t have to fight anymore. You can come off the defense, you are safe. God has found you.”
For days this dream wouldn’t leave my mind. I knew God was showing me the lost condition of many of His children – even His born-again children.
I thought of all the grown adults who felt lost as children. Perhaps they were from an abusive home. Perhaps one parent was missing. Maybe their parents made them feel they would never amount to anything – whatever the reason, they became lost as a child. They carry an anger they can’t seem to overcome caused in many cases by things they couldn’t control as a child. The result has been they felt forced to be on the defensive for the rest of their life. They feel everyone is out to hurt them. They can’t trust anyone. They continue to feel lost.
The word lost has three separate meanings.
- Unable to find one’s way; not knowing one’s whereabouts.
- Denoting something that has been taken away or cannot be recovered.
- A sustained defeat.
Wow! Have you ever felt unable to find your way? Is there something in your life, that was taken away as a child, that seemingly cannot be recovered? Does it feel like a sustained defeat?
How many adults are walking around today feeling these very things?
In John 10:11, Jesus said, “I am the good Shepherd, I will lay down my life for the lost.”
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
In Luke 15:4-6, Jesus told this parable, “What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness (desert) and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his [own] shoulders, rejoicing. And when he gets home, he summons together [his] friends and [his] neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep which was lost.” (Amp.)
Jesus came to save the lost. Even the born-again, spirit-filled believers who still feel lost. He came to set the captives free. Free from whatever happened in their past that made them feel defeated, unrecoverable, and unable to find their way. Those are the ones He came for.
As I pondered these things, I came across a Word from Marsha Burns…
SMALL STRAWS by MARSHA BURNS
Be alert because I am going to show you places in your life where you were deeply wounded by someone, and you have not completely forgiven them. It has created a callous on your heart. Now is the time to remember and forgive. Allow your heart to become soft again.
I believe God is showing us places deep in our heart where we have been wounded. Things we don’t even want to think about. He is not doing this to bring up bad feelings, but to set us free. He wants us to know – we are no longer lost – we have been found. By a wonderful, restoring, healing Father. If that is you, He wants you to climb up in His arms and let Him hold you. Hear Him whisper in your ear, “you are safe now. You can relax, you are no longer lost, you are found in Me, stop struggling child, I’ve got you.”
Even as I write those words, a song plays through my mind…. “What a healing Jesus, I’ve found in You. What a healing Jesus, You restore, refresh and renew. What a healing Jesus for such a time as this, arise on healing wings, Son of Righteousness.”
If you have wounds from your past, allow our Healing Jesus to hold you today. To restore you. To make all things new. You are safe now. He’s found you.
