Once upon a time there was a young and innocent blonde-haired, brown-eyed girl who had the gentlest of curls which rested lightly upon her shoulders. Her days held laughter and adventure as she ran through the nearby open fields. She freely leapt to-and-fro through patches of white-tipped open blooms. Often she was with her friend, sometimes with her brother or sister, but always outside. Having been sun-kissed all day, come the end, she had gained a few more freckles.
She recognized God and His goodness. She felt Him when she was in His creation. She felt Him in the safety of her home, and in the love of her parents. She was a curious one, which at her youngest age led to discovery, those days of exploration and play were precious. She recognized the gift of goodness which was within those days, those earlier days.
Time has it’s way of passing and circumstances are ever changing. The gift of her once pure curiosity, coupled with a desire for purpose and tangible love, as a young daughter, in this, our broken world, she was led away from Him and all truth He had for her.
Following were the years of being hunted down and held up against a wall. She felt trapped as she was assaulted with fiery arrows, all soaked in lies. As they hit her, some only braised by but many soaked deep. She was on fire. She felt the inferno from the inside out, yet, she was not consumed. This fire that burned within her had two components. She struggled to decipher them. She noticed in her desire to understand these conflicting components some sweetness was brought back to her, a remembrance of her God given gift of curiosity. As feeling returned to her once completely numb mind and body, she then was able to distinguish and name both parts of this fire which was within her...fury and fierce love.
The fury was all too familiar. All dark, all oppressive, all things damning. The fierce love was new, it was free from all things sullied. It was fresh, full and brimming with a freedom that she still struggles to describe.
In those given days the fire was yet present and burning within her but the sensation of it was changing. She realized that even in the days when the blaze was fighting to take her wholly, there was a sliver of her heart saved. This sliver was completely pure and unblemished. The only feeling within it was this fierce love.
This fierce love was and is His fierce love for her, His beloved.
Truths which were hers, and are also yours, began to smother the fire named Fury. Ever so slowly as each new thought and life experience came and was felt, feeling returned and hope became real. It all happened in a perfect pattern, radiating from her heart to the tips of her fingers, her toes, and to the curls resting upon her shoulders.
She, who was once a young, sweet, innocent, blonde-haired, brown-eyed girl with the gentlest of curls is now... a young at heart, radiant and rich daughter who rests in all the truths He, the One who loves her with fierceness, has for her. This is true for her today and will remain the truth for her in all her days yet to come.
For you on this certain day… May any fury you feel be completely smothered and may the fierce love of your maker win your heart wholly.