It was definitely one of the darkest seasons of my life I’d ever walked through…

My teen children and I moved to Georgia from West Virginia when I remarried in the Fall of 2003 and we found ourselves starting over.  Blending a new family, acclimating to a new area and culture, and mentally deprogramming from years of brainwashing in a very controlling cult were just several of the things I found myself thrust into navigating.

A couple years into our new environment, my world completely fell apart when my oldest child ran away from home.  The solid ground I thought I stood upon started to shake and erode beneath me instantly.  I became overwhelmed with grief, buried in confusion, and lost in despair.

No one could understand the internal depths of my isolation.  I was crying out to God daily (emphasis on the crying part), but would have given anything to have a “flesh and blood” human being to help me unravel the “why” questions that tormented my soul and had me bound from the past…and stuck in the present.

And then, there he was.  My oldest son, 15 at the time, came to me one day with a question about something we’d endured in our past “church” experience that hadn’t been good.  His question made me think deeply and, ultimately, it helped me begin my long, healing journey back to sanity, a deeper personal relationship with Jesus, and a reconciled and stronger relationship with my oldest daughter.

I was reading through John 11 recently and the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead caught my attention in a new way.  Verse 44 recalls how Lazarus “came out (from the grave) bound hand and foot with linen strips and his face wrapped in a cloth.  Jesus said to those around Him, ‘Unwrap him and let him go.’”

Lazarus wasn’t in a position to unwrap himself.  He required the assistance of others. I thank God often now for the obedience of my son who began “unwrapping” me those many years ago.  I had no idea how “bound” I actually had been; how wrapped up in mental confusion and relational dysfunction I was.  I NEEDED someone else to HELP “unwrap me”.

Jesus made us to need each other.  We function better in community – with loving people who we trust to help us “unwrap” the issues, burdens, addictions, and turmoil that have held us bound – stuck and unable to move forward.

Who do you know that needs some help getting unwrapped?  Ask God for wisdom and grace, then go to them and help “Unwrap them and let them go!”

Until next time, Grace and Glory!