Reflection #1 on "Million Pieces" by Newsboys  [song lyrics]

• originally released by solidsounds.org, 02/12/2003
• author: Suzy C.
• scripture reference: Proverbs 3:8

	From the album "Thrive" (2002) Read the song lyrics...

The song "Million Pieces" by the Newsboys asks some pretty tough questions.

Why you holdin' grudges in old jars?
Why you want to show off all your scars?

Have you ever known someone who has been through a really hard situation and doesn't seem to be able to get past it? Maybe a spouse left them, or they were ill, or someone died or abandoned them just when they needed them most. I do. Me, I've been there.

There was one really bad situation that haunted me for months--okay, years. The events passed, the people moved out of my life, but the hurt, the rejection remained. I developed a deep distrust of people, even my best friends. I was always waiting for them to abandon me, reject me. I treated everyone suspect. And the effects weren't just limited to my interactions with people. It seemed that as I faced decisions, this past event was always there in my mind. Even when the current situation had nothing to do with what happened in the past, it was still there. I began to distrust myself and finally, I began to distrust the Lord.

I remember that moment. It was like I was waking up from a really bad dream. I found myself, all alone, crying in my room, Jesus let me down. That was it, that was when the enemy went too far. That was when I turned on the self-pity that had been eating me up. You see, if there is one thing I know for certain, it is that Jesus will never let you down. He will never let me down. If it looks like He has, the problem isn't His, it is mine. It may be because I don't understand things the way He does or my timing is off. But I can always go to Him and even if I don't understand, He will assure me that He is still there and He still cares. That's what I did at that moment. I went to Him.

Did all the hurt go away at once? No. But I turned away from meditating on that hurt. Whenever it would try to invade my thoughts, I would stop and think, What has this past situation got to do with today? And then I'd think, What does the word of God say about this situation? If I couldn't answer that question, I'd go to the Word and find out. Then I would focus on what the Word said.

God's words healed my heart (Proverbs 3:8, KJV). Now that past situation no longer plagues me. It doesn't enter my thoughts very often and when it does, it is where it belongs, in the past.

You can get over those things too, but like the song says, you have to stop holding grudges and showing off your scars. You have to lay your burdens on the Lord. You must take up His words in the place of the hurt-filled words of others. You don't have to be stuck in the past on an emotional elevator going down. You can move on. Remember:

This is not your floor
You're going higher than before.

--Suzy C.

Scripture Reference: Proverbs 3:8