Ezekiel 37

Ezekiel 37:1-14 

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.  And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.  And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  And I answered, "O Lord God, you know."  Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.  Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, you shall know that I am the Lord."
So I prophesied as I was commanded.  And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.  But there was no breath in them.  Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath and breathe on these slain, that they may live."  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.  Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.'  Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.  And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, O my people.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord."

It's no secret that I have been battling with something over the past year or so.  I have felt for the longest time now abandonment from God and a continuous flow of people leaving my life one right after the next.  Yesterday, I was in my room and I found all of my letters, cards, pictures etc. that I used to keep in my Bible.  I stopped cleaning for a while and went through all  of it reading everything.  Looking at those pictures I didn't even recognize who I was in them.  All I could think was how ignorant and naive that girl was in the pictures.  Reading the letters from old friends though made me realize how far I had come from where I was four years ago when I first came to college and had no one but family then, until I met the most consistent friend I've had my entire life.  I honestly believe the only reason I was supposed to go to Drury that year was so that I would meet her.  She has had a huge influence in my life.  I am so very blessed to have even a fraction of her in my life still today, four years later. 

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.  After I read all of those things, I grabbed my journal and my Bible, a couple of things I haven't touched since I moved into my house.  I went and poured myself out to someone I haven't talked to in a while.  It wasn't a pleasant conversation, but there was a conversation.  After I complained and yelled at Him for five pages worth I closed my eyes for the first time in a long time and my prayer was the lyrics to Warning Sign by Coldplay.

A warning sign
I missed the good part, then I realized
I started looking and the bubble burst
I started looking for excuses
Come on in
I've got to tell You what a state I'm in
I've got to tell You in my loudest tones
That I started looking for a warning sign
When the truth is, I miss You
Yeah the truth is, that I miss You so
A warning sign
It came back to haunt me, and I realized
That You were an island and I passed You by
And You were an island to discover
Come on in
I've got to tell You what a state I'm in
I've got to tell You in my loudest tones
That I started looking for a warning sign
When the truth is, I miss You
Yeah the truth is, that I miss You so
And I'm tired, I should not have let You go
So I crawl back into Your open arms
Yes I crawl back into Your open arms
And I crawl back into Your open arms
Yes I crawl back into Your open arms. 

Afterwards I just stayed there with my eyes closed and for the first time in forever I opened up my ears and listened, with my heart open.  And for some reason Ezekiel 37 popped into my head.  I've only read this one other time and I remember liking it because it is what the song Skeleton Bones is talking about.  But it is exactly what I needed to remember.  I looked it up and wrote it down to make it stick.  "My bones are dried up, and my hope is lost; I am indeed cut off." And He said to me, "I will open your grave and I will raise you from your grave.   I will bring you into the land of Israel.  And you shall know that I am the Lord...And I will put my Spirit within you, an you shall live...I have spoken and I will do it."