In other sessions, we had been working through the idea that there was a strong possibility that I was neurodivergent. All that means is that I can experience the world differently than others, possibly due to undiagnosed ADHD.
She said to me, “Tabitha, it could be highly likely that because of the way your brain functions, you may have seen the world through a lens that doesn’t always match its reality.”
You don’t have to be neurodivergent to have written a story about your life in which you’re always rejected, never included, or never thought of. In fact, at every moment, we’re all forming stories about the people around us, the experiences we have had, and the way it makes us feel.
But are they true?
I leaned back in my chair and didn’t say anything. I was speechless. I hadn’t ever thought of that. I had created this world I had been living in. And now that I could see it more fully, I understood that I could rebuild it. I could reclaim it. I didn’t have to live my life this way with this perspective – any longer.
- This is the hope of Christ in our lives. He opens our eyes so we can see.
Christ helps us see the way we have lived and now can live rehabilitated and rewritten.
Jesus sets His banner over us and calls us forth into life, prophetically fulfilling Isaiah 11:10,
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His resting place will be glorious.
We don’t have to live at war with ourselves. Jesus, Messiah the Root of Jesse offers us rest. He offers us a place of peace after we’ve been hurt and disappointed. We don’t have to work so hard to be loved. We don’t have to try so hard to belong.
Beloved is the banner under which we reside. Belonging is its gift to us.
The Lord ushers us into an abundant life where we have everything we could possibly need. Song of Solomon 2:4 says,
Let Him lead me to the banquet hall, and let His banner over me be love.
Jesus rewrites our stories, one of power and love, and not of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).
We can introduce to Christ each belief that we hold that hasn’t yet met Christ’s love. And each of these parts can be given a new name, a new song, and a declaration of triumph:
Instead of ashes, a garland.
Instead of rejected, beloved.
Instead of forsaken, His.
Instead of mourning, the oil of gladness.
Instead of a faint spirit, a mantle of praise.
Instead of abandoned, held and embraced.
We become pursued, seen, and wanted.
Under these banners and in this story, we move into a place of healing instead of hiding in the shadows and instead of running away. We move out of misery and into confidence.
These banners lead us into taking steps toward embodying the life, death, and resurrection of Christ in our hearts and hands.
Christ raises the standard for how we are to live. He raises this banner over us. And under this banner, we are grounded; we get to live at peace with ourselves.
To whom do we belong? Christ.
Whose power and authority stands behind us? The Messiah’s.
Who directs our lives toward goodness and wholeness?
The Lord.
We may have been divorced from those we love, abandoned by our family or friends, betrayed by the systems that raised us, but “though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me” (Psalm 27:10).
Christ carries the weight of our burdens. He will either send others on His behalf to hold us up or do so Himself.
