Abandonment {Guest Host: Stephanie Clayton}

I am very excited to introduce a friend to you!  I met Stephanie Clayton at Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks Conference in July.  Immediately I felt a connection with this kindred spirit.  Her love for the Lord shines through her!  I know you will be blessed by her post today.  Thank you Stephanie!!! 

Abandonment…

No one likes to feel abandoned. Loneliness can take your breath away…especially when someone leaves and we don’t know why. A void is left.

It doesn’t have to be voluntary. Sometimes we feel abandoned even when someone didn’t leave by choice. Regardless of how they went, there is a hole left to fill. A place they filled for you, and a place you gave to them. Emptiness all over accompanies abandonment. Perhaps that’s why it seems so traumatic. We get in a panic to fill back up…but sometimes the whole gapes a little longer than we want it to.

Love and abandonment are tied very closely. Many times we wonder if we were unlovable…or if we didn’t love enough? Or maybe we “should” have loved differently…or better yet…never loved in the first place…

“The LORD will vindicate me; your love, LORD, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.” Psalm 138:8

It’s been a while since I have felt the sting of earthly abandonment, but I concern myself with spiritual abandonment daily.

God, if I do not meet your expectations, will you leave me?

God, do I feel depraved because you have finally deemed me unloveable?

God…will you stay with me no matter what?

I know the answers to these questions…yet I doubt…and I catch my heart wondering…looking for love in other places…like FB comments…or texts from friends…

And yet He reminds me…that His love endures forever. That the God shaped hole in my heart will never be left empty and gaping. That there is no wound He cannot bandage and no thirst He cannot quench. He will not abandon me…and I…in all my messy-ness…am a work of HIS hands!

Dear sister, I know the sting of abandonment…it’s a very tricky emotion that leads to wall building. If you have been abandoned, instead of building a wall, open up the well, and let Jesus fill it with living water. The water that does not run dry…the Words of the Savior. He says you’re loveable…and worthy…and His princess…and He speaks the truth. He can’t get over you…He’s smitten with His daughter…the work of His hands.

Stephanie Clayton is a writer, speaker, and counselor with a passion for integrating Bible teaching with professional counseling. She has a Master’s Degree in counseling and a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology. Stephanie uses practical application and insight to help women find freedom from their past, embrace forgiveness, and move forward towards wholeness in Christ. Stephanie is the wife of a police officer and mother of two. She loves JESUS!!!! and a good skinny vanilla latte, bright colors, and fabulous shoes! You can find out more about Stephanie at: www.stephanieclayton.org