No Parking Zone

Several years ago now I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing a lovely lady named Martha Blackburn. At the time, she was Women's Ministry Director for the Wesleyan Church headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Martha had been married to a Wesleyan pastor. She and her husband and one son lived and ministered in Indianapolis for many years. Her husband had been afflicted with some type of kidney disease that ultimately took his life while in his early forties, and Martha's life changed completely overnight.

Not only did she lose her husband, but she lost her identity as a pastor's wife. She had worked as a secretary in the church office and felt she must give up that position in order to eliminate any awkwardness for the new pastor coming to replace her husband. So, she lost her job. Her son had just graduated high school. All the arrangements for him to go off to college had been made. Now, instead of three in the house there was one, Martha, alone and broken hearted.

Martha felt she needed to keep her life as normal as possible. That included church attendance. There was no other church she would rather attend than the one she had been involved in for so long, but some Sundays she could not get herself to get up and go. Other Sundays she would go to church only to be reminded of all her losses. On those Sundays she found herself leaving before the service was over, usually in tears.

As time went on, Martha began to realize that she was going down a path of self pity. It was easier to remember all she had lost rather than focus on what God might have in store for her in the future. She began praying, "God, I don't want to park beside my grief." Martha was ready and willing to allow God to heal her broken heart and give her a future filled with blessings she could not yet imagine.

There is an invalid man mentioned in scripture (John 5:1-15) who had parked beside his grief for a very long time, thirty-eight years, to be exact. His parking place was by a pool called Bethesda. It was said that at certain times the water in the pool would be stirred, and the first to enter the water would be healed. Many disabled people came here for healing. After thirty-eight years this man's parking place had become his comfort zone. As long as he stayed by the pool, he appeared to be trying to get better, at the very least. He never was able to get into the water in time to be healed. Of course, it wasn't his fault, so he said, because there was no one to help him get in. So, he parked beside his disability for all those years. Then one day Jesus came along and asked him very pointedly if he wanted to get well. He never really said yes to the question, but Jesus healed him anyway and made that place a no parking zone.

I think sometimes we are much like the man at the pool. We say we want to be healed, but we just lay by the pool nursing our wounds and blaming our circumstances on others. Our afflictions are many; heartbreak, hurt feelings, diseases, disabilities, losses. We have become comfortable with our parking place. It has become our comfort zone. Others have low expectations for us because of where we're parked. We have low expectations for ourselves, as well. We thrive on the pity we receive from others and from ourselves. We hear Jesus asking if we want to get well. We know He is the great healer. But we've become comfortable by the pool. Maybe it's best to just stay there.

Martha found that allowing God to make her grief a no parking zone opened up a whole new world for possibilities for her. She got a new job with a new identity, Director of Women's Ministry for the Wesleyan denomination. God sent a wonderful, godly man into her life whom she fell in love with and married. Her life was exciting and full and blessed!

Jesus may be asking you if you really want to be well. Tell Him you don't want to park where you are. Allow Him to begin the healing process by posting a no parking zone sign in that area of your life. Has someone hurt you? Forgive them and go on! NO PARKING! Have you been rejected and devalued? Your value and worth come from God! NO PARKING! Are you in poor health or disabled and feeling useless? He will teach you how to feel better. He has something you can do in service to Him despite physical circumstances. NO PARKING! Have you backed up on your commitment to God? Repent and go forward with Him. NO PARKING!

God, do not allow us to park in what should be NO PARKING ZONES!