The whole world’s psychologists will tell you how devastating rejection is.  The cause for so much of the fear and anger, insecurity and personality disorders diagnosed can be found in some bad experience or experiences where a person’s character or even good intentions have been denigrated and insulted.  So many people live in relationships and circumstances in which they themselves cannot set the pace or assert themselves.  Your place in the closest relationships around you is super important for life’s peace and joy.

Everyone knows how things can unravel and go wrong in relationships.  Recovery takes much longer and requires more focus and sacrifice – a whole process.  As I pray for prayer requests from people who are actually living as victims of their own households, my heart breaks for the brokenness of our world.  I cry out to the Lord because I know only He can bring true restoration, better than ever before, that we all yearn for.  For Him, nothing is impossible.  The prayer of restoration is the supplication of my heart. It brings peace to my soul and—I firmly believe—peace in other homes, other places, far from me.

Let us proclaim with Jeremiah.

 ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. (Jeremiah 32:17)

It’s a grandiose thought that we forget so easily.  Perhaps we think too easily that our strength is lacking, our say counts for nothing, we have no power of persuasion, and other people determine our life’s well-being and direction.  Those thoughts couldn’t be further from the truth.  If you have surrendered your life to the Lord, He is your loving Father who loves you unconditionally with a love that can never perish.

For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the Lord, who has mercy on you. (Isaiah 54:10)

It is certainly possible to read these words and let them evaporate over your mind.  The reality of the visible is overwhelming.

That is precisely what should not happen.  These are words spoken by the same God who made the earth, the God who put the universe in place with the words of His mouth.  These words CREATE and more specifically, they create a special, unique, and new – such as there has never been – place just for you in your world, brought forth from the thoughts of the Eternal God.

Perhaps Jacob also thought it was going to be a just another night to lie down and sleep.  He had a majestic vision in his dream in which God confirmed to him the promises made to his forefathers.  When he woke up, reality was the normal, lonely field around him. In spite of the visible realm, he speaks the words that make his dream a reality, by praying the promise into the visible.

 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Genesis 28:16,17)

He was afraid – of course.  It’s a realization, an understanding that brings you to a standstill  This is the moment you realize the unseen is a greater reality than the seen. The ordinary stone that was under his head became the symbol of the Words of Creation spoken to him, words that resound throughout eternity, here and now and can never change.  All he could do was to cry out in human bewilderment is that he didn’t realize it.

That’s the point.  God is omnipresent.  He didn’t have to show up.  The lack of understanding of His presence and our superficial dealings with it are things that we have to deal with spiritually.  He is Who He is and He is here, there and everywhere you are.

It is God who makes your place holy—not inaccessible and far from you—where you are.  It’s your place, your inner room that we’ve been talking about.  Your only, private place where no one has access – your own mind.  This is the place, your place, where you meet God and where you realize that your broken, upended, non-ideal circumstances are Bethel, the gate of heaven.  You stand on holy ground, right where you are, crying out.  Where you are now, no matter what your “now” looks like, is the house of God. He builds your house.

This is the moment in which you realize and comprehend another angle of the multi-faceted character and actions of God (miracles and supernatural insight into the Word).  It is the beauty of the moment when the water of the Word washes you clean from the dust and mud of the world. (Ephesians 5:26)

Listen to God’s words about your circumstances.

“O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
And great shall be the peace of your children.
In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. (Isaiah 54:11-15)

It is a description of the New Jerusalem just like Revelation 21:18 and further. You are precious stones, the stones in the crown of God, His jewels – Malachi 3:16-18 and 4:2.  It is you because you fear the Name of the Lord. The Sun of Righteousness shines with healing in its wings. Feel the healing heat of God’s love over your life.

We are the City, the Church, the precious possession of God.  You have a place, holy ground, right where you stand — and you didn’t realize it!