Over the holidays a friend told me she took her ex-boyfriend out for lunch. He’d been in town for the holidays, and since both have moved on and still remain good friends, they decided to catch-up. During dinner, he told her that he realized shortly after their break-up he’d messed up a really good thing with her. He said he regretted never taking their relationship to the next level. When I asked why she broke up with him, she commented, “When someone is not ready to mature and move forward in life, then you have to leave them where they are.” My friend also shared with me that this wasn’t an easy pill to swallow when they first broke-up. It happened over ten years ago, and until this day, she says he’s the only man she’s ever been close to marrying.
Having the strength to let go and move on from a relationship that isn’t right for you takes courage and determination. I applaud my friend’s stand to do what she believed was in her best interest, but I have to admit to being taken aback hearing her say she hasn’t come close to marrying over the last ten years. My thoughts percolate with rapid speed when I hear things like this. Immediately, scriptures flash across my mind as I remind myself of God’s promises. Out of habit, I look to God’s Word to remedy and make whole any and all issues, because it contains everything we need to live a life that is pleasing to Heavenly Father and fulfilling to us as well.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus Christ tells us to come to him with all our burdens, and he will give us rest. A burden over extends us. It causes us to expend more of our emotional, mental, and physical energy than we can healthily give, and therefore, leaves us depleted. Jesus Christ presents us with an exponentially better choice. We can choose well and hand over our burdens to him because he can handle the load, or we can continue to carry the burden ourselves and allow it to break us. One would think that everyone would make the choice to let Jesus handle the load, but most do not.
I believe my friend made a good choice. She released a person because it was blazingly apparent that he didn’t want to grow with her. She had the foresight to realize that continuing this relationship was burdening her life and depleting her energies. So, she let it go. She got this part right, but the other part of God’s directive, the part in Matthew 11:29 where Jesus Christ tells us to learn about him so that we will find rest for our souls—she missed this part.
Heavenly Father created life in such a way that any time something is released, cut-out, or eradicated; the gap must be filled. We see this all throughout nature. We also see it in the lives of people that are hurting so deeply inside that they use harmful substances and toxic relationships to fill the void.
When we give our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, we must give up our old life. It was filled to the brim with sin and darkness. Jesus Christ comes into our hearts and brings the fullness of love, light, liberty, and life. He gives us joy everlasting, but most of us don’t give up everything about our old lives in one big swoop. It’s a gradual process for us. Our prayer and aim should be that as we realize we’re holding on to harmful remnants of darkness, we release them as we continue to walk with Christ throughout our lives. Many people never pray to come into knowledge about the darkness they harbor, and they fill the gaps with everything but the love of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s masterpieces, and that He recreated our spirits in Christ Jesus so that we can do all the good things He planned for us long ago. God has a good plan for our lives, and the way to fulfill it is to learn about Jesus Christ. This is our destiny! We were created to be God’s sons and daughters and to be like our big brother, Jesus Christ. If we don’t make learning about him a priority in our lives, we’ll deny ourselves the privilege of becoming like him. During transition from ‘single’ to ‘married’, all of us will experience feelings of emptiness as we wait to meet our future spouses, but let’s fill the gap with the love of Jesus Christ. Then, we’ll draw the right person into our lives, and have the rich and satisfying existence that God planned for us.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Ten Years without Coming Close” written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.