SURVIVAL...

I heard a story yesterday morning about a little girl who was in an orphanage in another country.  The agency had sent scans of the little girl's brain to the family looking to adopt her.  They had the scans looked at by several doctors and all confirmed that this child was missing parts of her brain and she would never be able to respond to them in any sort of way.  As the adoption progressed they also told the family that they believed this little girl was also deaf and blind.  The mother who was looking to adopt told God there was no way she could adopt this little girl.  How could she pour out love to this child and never get anything in return.  In time, she surrendered to what she felt God calling her to do.  So they went to get this little girl who would be their daughter.

When the agency handed the little girl over to the mother in her arms, she said it was like looking at a shell with nothing inside.  The mother felt overwhelmed and like this was too much for her.  She handed the girl to her husband, went into the bathroom ,and sat on the floor sobbing.

For each one of their previous children, this mother and father, had a special song they had sung to them and that would be their special song.  When the mother came out of the bathroom she saw her husband holding their new daughter and singing to her, her own special song.

They continued to hold her and sing to her day after day and she eventually made eye contact with them, then one day she smiled, and laughed.  It turned out that this sweet little girl never was deaf or blind.  She had just closed herself off to everyone around her because of her previous experiences.  When they got her home they said she just bloomed!  And is doing wonderful!

What a sad and beautiful story all in one...It is sad to my heart when people (children or adult) don't feel loved.  That pain touches my heart deeply.  But it is also a beautiful story to me of how God can pour His love through US to others and make all the difference in the world!!

Isn't it true how many of us are that little girl walking around in an adult body.  I found it fascinating how when wounded emotionally and deprived of the healthy kind of love we need that even a small child will naturally pull herself in and close herself off, as a self-defense mechanism to protect.  There are so many adults who have done the same thing, and may not even realize it.  I didn't, until God began to open my eyes to the wounds I had, and the unhealthy ways I had taught myself to survive.

God spoke to my heart several years ago and said, "Let me stitch and heal all of your wounds".  At that time I thought, "what wounds?  I don't have any wounds".  I had calloused myself so much and stuffed things away in this little invisible box in me and became an expert at truly getting myself to believe that I was okay.

Can you relate in some way?  Only God knows what wounds you have.  You can see from my story that God knows us better than we know ourselves.  Seek Him.  Ask him to show you.  Ask him to heal you.  He wants to.  If we keep running away and pretending the wounds aren't there we will live a restricted life never experiencing the freedom of being healed.

Think of it this way...if you get a deep gaping cut on your leg, you go to get it stitched up right away, right?  If you leave the wound open, it's going to debilitate you making it harder and harder to walk on that leg and as time goes on it will make you sick.  That wound will restrict you in your daily living.  But if you let the physician stitch up your wound and it begins to heal over time, you get to experience life without the pain of the open wound and you get relief from the restriction it was having on you.

While we are seeking to look at our wounds and have them healed we also need to be open to allowing love into our lives.  Love and meaningful touch have so much power!  Did you know that over one-third of our five million touch receptors are in our hands!  In one of my favorite books, "The Blessing-Giving the gift of unconditional love and acceptance" by John Trent, PH.D. and Gary Smalley, it says that Dr. Dolores Krieger, a professor of nursing at New York University, has made numerous studies finding out that both the toucher and the one being touched receive a psychological benefit.  How?  It goes on to tell how inside our bodies is hemoglobin, the pigment of the red blood cells, which carries oxygen to the tissues.  Repeatedly, Dr. Krieger has found that hemoglobin levels in both people's bloodstreams go up during the act meaningful touch.  As hemoglobin levels are invigorated, body tissues receive more oxygen.  This increase of oxygen energizes a person and can even aid in the regenerative process if he or she is ill.

It also went on to say that: 
In a study at UCLA,  it was found that, just to maintain emotional and physical health, men and women need eight to ten meaningful touches a day.

Wow!....

Whether you are a man or woman, child or adult, baby or teenager...we all need to feel love and meaningful touch!  Don't kid yourself.  It's how we were designed.

Is there anyone in your life today that could use your love and meaningful touch?
or... Do you realize that you need the real love and caring touch I've been talking about?  If you do, ask God to share his love for you, through someone in your life.

This life is hard and sometimes reality really sucks.  Let's not sugar coat it.  That's why we need Jesus and his love to make it through.  In the book "The Blessing", it also tells of a little girl who was scared in the night.  Her father came into her room and said, "Don't worry, the Lord will protect you".  In the honesty of the child, the little girl snuggled close to her father and said, "I know that, Daddy, but right now I need someone with skin on!"

Don't we all!!!  Let's be that someone with skin on to each other and be a vessel that God pours His great love through.

ALSO please share this with someone you know is hurting...

Click here to view the lyrics to a song my husband wrote about our hurt called Calling You.