Recovering WONDER - A Devotional
By Sylvia Kamande, BJM Families Ministry Director
On my journey to recover Wonder, there have been days that I wanted to give up because it felt so hard. Some disappointments felt like they would crush me, like the loss of a loved one, which I experienced a few years ago among other things.
I had to figure out ways to recover the Wonder that I had lost.
I asked the Lord to help me rediscover it and He led me to Psalm 126, verses 1 and 2a, which I have been meditating on since May this year.
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
We were like those who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
The Israelites experienced captivity, loss, and so much more, which was most certainly very disappointing and heartbreaking. I resonated greatly with this, because sometimes deep disappointment can feel like captivity.
While the world around you is moving on…
you feel stuck,
you don’t know who you are anymore,
you begin to doubt if things will ever change, if you will ever dream again …and whether you can even recover your sense of Wonder.
In these verses God made a promise that He would restore the fortunes of Zion, that they would begin to dream, their mouths would be filled with laughter, but my question was…
To recover Wonder you NEED to go through the process of recovery, like going through a tunnel - where the only way to the other side is through. At times it won’t be linear, at times it will be messy, and you may face the same disappointment again.
Jesus promises to be with us and fight for us, He will not rush us, He is gentle and very, very kind. He continues to teach and show me that there is hope, and that disappointment does not have the final say…
but Wonder does.
We will once again be like “Those who dreamed, Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
How do you get to the laughter and joy part of the restoration process?
There are a few things that Jesus invited me to explore and practice and I would like to invite you to try as well:
To recognize or acknowledge that we have experienced disappointment, and that we need Jesus to restore.
We need to name it , there is a power in naming the disappointment and being as specific as you can. Our hearts need that specificity and clarity in order for the healing to begin.
We need to take time to grieve what we have lost through disappointment. This process cannot be rushed.
Give yourself permission to recover your childlike wonder. Personally it has been giving myself time for play in this season it has been legos, coloring, dancing, cartoons
Asking your community, your campfire wonder friends to stand with you, pray for you, hold your dreams for you and remind you who you are.
