Sweetly Broken

I know this isn't one of my long shpiels, but this song best describes how my spiritual state is right now, and I hope it brings you back to the cross as it did for me.

a photo of my heart

Come, let us return to the Lord.For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.
  Hosea 6:1-3 

 I cannot count the times that I've referred to this passage... I've always known it was a special passage for me. But, I am now clinging to the hope that is so evident in it in a way that I never have before. In the past, it was a faint remembrance of what He had done for me before. But now, it is a promise that I am holding on to desperately. You see, I have been going through a time of much conviction and growth and... it hurts. It is encouraging because I know I must be more teachable and seeking after the Lord more fully, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been painful. I constantly finding myself asking my Father, "Can we be done yet? At least for now? I can't go on like this, Dad!" There are so many times when I've wished myself away from... myself.  But this passage has been keeping me going, this and other passages, songs, friends, and the many other blessings that God has been sending my way. He will heal me. He will bandage me. He will revive me. He will rain on me, on my thirsty, cracked soul. Life is not supposed to be easy or simple. It's not supposed  to be soft and comfortable and warm. Not here, anyway. The pain isn't going to go away until we are perfected, in a perfected kingdom. But He is faithful... oh, so faithful.