“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”
Psalm 139:1 – 3
A woman’s life is often one of unseen service, secret offerings, and private sadness. While we may celebrate our joys in public, there is not one woman I know who doesn’t carry hidden loss, grief, or unmet yearnings. Sometimes it may look like faithful service while waiting for a husband far longer than her peers, or finding out that her new husband has secret sins only revealed once she transitions from bride to wife. Perhaps she yearns for children, but each month suffers the brutal reminder that her dream is that much further from becoming a reality. Or maybe, she just feels numb and unable to enjoy the things she sees right in front of her, offering thanks out of dutiful response, rather than heartfelt gratitude.
James Horner, who wrote the score for Titanic, included the song ‘A Woman’s Heart is a Deep Ocean of Secrets’. These are not secrets of deception or cunning, but the deep things that a woman carries that sometimes even she cannot fully understand. How do you articulate the deepest sorrows when it feels that you might break in two if you said the words out loud? And so, we carry them. Tucked away in the secret reservoir of our hearts, safe from callous human hands or the harsh nature of reality.
However, as poetic as this sounds, there is a problem with secrets of our hearts; they don’t leave us how they found us. Secreted away in tiny, locked vestibules, they are in no way inert. They grow, they push, and they sometimes give rise to other unhappy incidents. Disappointment, bitterness, frustration, and hopelessness often flourish in the place of unseen sorrows. While completely understandable, these can make our soft, warm hearts grow hard and cold if we aren’t careful to keep watch.
So what should we do? Invite Jesus into our deepest places of hurt, regret, sorrow and yearning. It is the only way. Because the truth is, salvation is not the only time Jesus stands at the door and knocks. For believers, the work of the Holy Spirit is to activate the healing touch of Jesus in our hearts through the ongoing process of sanctification. He cares deeply for the soul of a woman and longs to touch those places in our heart that are so tender you think you might die if He sees them.
But, daughter, He already does. One of the names of God is El Roi, which literally translates into “the God who sees me.” We discover this name in the Bible when we meet Hagar, an Egyptian slave, in Genesis 16:9 – 13. She has been cast out of her home into the desert, where she encounters God. A woman who had been mistreated and rejected from her family, caught the attention of God himself, who heard of her misery and saw her situation. What mercy is this!
No matter what you are facing, God sees! He cares, He identifies with your suffering, and He will seek you out to provide strength to you in your journey.
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
2 Chronicles 16:9a
Whatever the cross you bear, remember, He has already carried the ultimate cross and will supply all that you need.
You simply have to invite him into your place of deepest need.
He is waiting.
He is ready.
He sees.
A prayer:
Heavenly Father, please come into the places in my heart that carry secret burdens. Jesus, I know you died to bring me into the fullness of life. Would you please bring your healing, strength, and love into the hidden places, through the power of your Holy Spirit. Renew me. Grant me a heart like yours, full of joy, peace, and love. Please take out that which is not mine to carry, and give me the strength and grace to carry your light and easy yoke. I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Arise, fair one. 