I often turn to passages in the Bible when I’m in need of comfort, guidance, wisdom, and peace. There have been times in my life when just hanging out on a particular verse, or particular chapter, seemed to pull me through whatever it was I was going through. I’m fairly certain The Book of Isaiah and The Book of Psalms have kept me sane and safe through what would seem to be dire times.
There have been other times though, when a verse just finds me, resonates with me, stays with me, and continually speaks to me and guides me. One such verse is the Becoming Bulletproof Verse - that’s what I call it. This is the verse that found me at 3 am in the morning shortly after I had asked God to teach me how to train to become bulletproof.
It’s Isaiah 40:31:
“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
They will rise up on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.”
At first glance, this verse is just awesome. It basically says that those who trust God will be strengthened. But that’s just the tip of it, if you stay with it, if it stays with you, it becomes an abyss of insight that never stops giving itself. I have found this to be my reality over the last 10 years.
Anyway, recently, I’ve been having the idea of the Phoenix run through my head - the bird that rises out of the ashes, not the X-men character. I guess the Phoenix keeps running through my mind because it is a symbol of hope and rebirth. Two things I think we could all benefit from.
Isaiah 40:31 always plays in the background of my mind, sometimes like a faint song that you can only hear the whispers of and sometimes it’s the theme song of the day. The other morning, while I was thinking of the Phoenix, Isaiah 40:31 started playing a little louder. So, I sat down and looked at it to see what it had to say.
That’s when I saw the Phoenix:
“Those who trust in God will be strengthened.
They shall rise up out of the ashes.
They will thrive through the trials of circumstance.
They will move forward, they will not be broken.”
Hope and rebirth, strength and comfort, patience and triumph. It’s all there. I guess I’ve always known it was there, but sometimes It’s good to see it and hear it in a different way. The same message, but spoken differently, spoken in the way it needed to be said in order for it to be received.
I’m just sharing this with you. I think there are times when we all just need to know things will get better, storms will pass, and the earth will spin on. I also think there are times when we just need to pull our heads up out of the sand and be reminded of who we really are. And right now, as we always have been, we are the Phoenix.
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