Both of my daughters love princesses. They can’t get enough of the story of a beautiful princess imprisoned by evil, yet not knowing how much of a prisoner she really is, full of longing, saved by the brave hero. They can’t get enough of the story where the rescued princess resumes her rightful, royal life, and lives happily ever after.
As adults, we still have a bit of that little girl who loves the fairy tale inside of us. Something in our hearts longs to be rescued, longs to be set free from our dire circumstances by a hero to live our happily ever after. It speaks to us.
Then as we get older, our fairy tale dreams often shift into more tangible ones. We dream of marrying the love of our lives, having a family, building a life, growing old together. For many, the reality includes dreams that are incomplete or broken, tattered or scarred.
Our happily ever after is often missing the “happily.” It’s just “ever after,” stretching out before us, monotonous, bleak, and void.
Monotonous, Bleak, and void
Bleak and void.
Those are appropriate words to describe this unnamed woman. She had her real-life fairy tale: a good husband, a son to love and to carry on the family name, only to have them come crashing down around her. Her husband died, and then so did her only son. Hope shattered amidst the fragments of her fairy tale life.
Her story desperately needed a hero.
And in the midst of her darkest moments, her Hero arrived. Not to sweep her off her feet, but to heal her heart.
The funeral procession crossed paths with the gospel procession.
The Hero who Heals
Luke 7 tells us that Jesus saw this woman, and it broke His heart. He amazingly told her not to cry in a hopeless situation. And then, He approached the coffin, touched it, and told her son to get up.
Now, an ordinary rabbi wouldn’t risk the uncleanliness of getting close to the dead, let alone reach out and touch the pall. But, then again, this was no ordinary rabbi. This was our hero, the Savior. And, like every good fairy tale ending, her son sat up and began talking. In giving the son back to his mother, Jesus gave back her hope, her future, her life.
Jesus made whole what was broken, restored what was hopeless. It was the first time Jesus had raised anyone from the dead in His ministry. And it was prompted by an encounter with a grieving, brokenhearted mother desperately in need of a Savior.
your hero? He sees you.
If your fairy tale is fallen…
If your “ever after” is missing its “happily”…
If you’re waiting for your hero to show up, then this story is for you.
Because your hero? He sees you.
He sees what is broken, what is heart-wrenching, what is empty, and His heart goes out to you. He asks you not to despair, not to give up hope. He’s reaching out, with life in His touch to heal, to restore, to make whole. It’s yours for the taking, the chance to resume your rightful, royal life as a daughter of the King.
© 2019 Sara R Conley. All rights reserved.