Many years ago I was in Honolulu for a marathon. While I was there, I heard Wayne Cordeiro preach, and he told us that Jesus is our garbage man.  He talked about how God still works miracles and suggested that we could be in the middle of one because sometimes miracles take time.

I was feeling discouraged about my marriage.  I thought about how a baby is a miracle of God that takes nine months, and I wondered if I was perhaps in the middle of a miracle without even knowing it.

Tomorrow is garbage day. A few years ago I confessed to a friend that every week when garbage day rolls around I feel like dragging my life to the curb and throwing it away.  “Don’t drag your life to the curb. Drag it to the cross.” She told me.

Not long after, I actually found a large cross by a dumpster at the church where my kids were attending a homeschool co-op.  They said I could have it and I brought it home and set it up in my yard.

Looking at the cross helps me! I have always known that Jesus died for my sins.  For me the bigger struggle has been the pain of my broken-heart. Forgiving sin does not magically take away the damage.  Some wounds  will never be made right on this side of heaven.

When I look at the cross, I see a promise. I see hope.  Jesus hung there and died for me and I take great comfort in knowing that by his stripes I am healed.  It’s a promise and a sure thing.

God heals in many ways.  I love the stories in the Bible about people who were healed instantly.  But for me it has been more of a very long and painful journey.

A few years ago I wrote a Valentine’s Day post called Addressing My Broken Heart.  That’s a link. I encourage you to read it.  If your heart is broken you have to deal with it.  Jesus heals broken hearts and I present mine to him everyday.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18