“We can’t stand at a distance from our own soul and ask Christ to ‘go in there and deal with it.’ This isn’t hostage negotiation; we don’t hide a block away and hope God takes care of business. This is your own soul we’re talking about; the door opens from the inside.”- John Eldredge
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.”- Revelation 3:20 (NIV)
John Eldredge concludes Chapter 10 of Get Your Life Back as he encourages you to simply begin to name your losses. Put some words to your loss – out loud. Consequently, specifically name your losses and how that discovery makes you feel. And better yet, write all this down. Because, recognized or not, your neglected losses exist. So, give them a voice.
As a result, John provides two steps to help you as you move forward:
1. Allow your soul to feel. Above all, don’t tell your soul what to feel. You soul already knows what it needs to do. Thus, you only need to give your soul permission. Most significantly, since your losses matter, John exhorts, “don’t edit yourself into silence.”
Through this practice you become present to your soul, to the places left behind.
2. Invite Jesus in. With the aid of the Holy Spirit, invite Jesus’ comfort, love, and presence into your specific loss. For Jesus presence brings mercy and healing. Furthermore, John underscores, the door to your soul opens from the inside. Therefore, the author continues:
“This is the purpose of naming our loss, feeling it, allowing ourselves to return to the place in our own being that we walked away from. We must enter those places ourselves — the memory, the emotion, whatever it is we are aware of. We inhabit our souls again. Jesus insists on it. Once there, we open the door from the inside, inviting Christ in, which he is always so eager to do.”
Today’s question: How often do you think we stand at a distance from our own soul? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “New layer of story and adventure”
