For what it’s worth. I saw your flaws and loved you even more. You are worth more than rubies or gold.

Jesus is asking you, “Do you really want things to change? Are you willing to take on all the responsibilities that will become a regular part of your life if I heal you?”

He isn’t Jesus just asking if you wanted to be healed from emotional pain, but if he wanted you to be healed completely. He isn’t asking a one-time question, but a lifelong one. Jesus knows it’s so easy for us to grow accustomed to our limitations—to be defined by them, to make allowances for them—and not really want to pay the price of change. He knows how easy it is for us to settle for where we are and to live a smaller life than what he’s called us to.

When he asked me, Do you want to be healed? he was asking me to go beyond where I had been healed before—beyond all the rejection and abandonment I had. He was asking me to go with him to another level. Isn’t that what he does with all of us?

When we cry out wanting to be married, doesn’t it stand to reason that his response might be an unexpected question: Are you ready for the vulnerability and transparency of being in a relationship?

Or when we pray for new friends, might he ask: Are you willing to risk and invest your time and your heart . . . without any guarantees?

We cry out to him, wanting to move forward, but how would we answer if he asked us: “Do you want to let go of the past once and for all, including forgiving all the people who have wounded you? Are you willing to do the work of uncovering bitterness and uprooting it altogether? Are you willing to give up trying to control every facet of your life? And make more room for me?”

When Jesus poses his question to us, we have a choice to make. We can focus on our limitations and problems, or embrace the miraculous possibility he offers us. We can run away saying a loud no, or run forward proclaiming a loud yes.

God gave the freedom to love and without the choice to say “no” there’s no meaning to saying “yes.”

When we find ourselves risking to trust this way of seeing, the power of the lie begins to fade and the increasing confidence of who you really are becomes the bedrock that will break your anxiety and shame. It will allow you to live free.

Where will your faith take you? Go open your journal and reminisce with the Father over His goodness and faithfulness over these past years. Remind yourself that in your willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit, others will experience a love that calls to the depth of their soul. The pages of your storybook are unwritten and riddled with the unknown. It is dry and anticipating the first drop of wet ink that holds your very essence. It’s more than just words. It’s a legacy, an inspiration for every future soul to see. What are you going to pen into being? What have you decided?

You are to chosen to be. So live. Live adventurously. Seek the unknown. Self sacrifice and endure. But why would God tell me to do something so impossible? Because impossible is where God starts, and miracles are what God does.