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Devotional

The Dead Bones of Transformation

by JODIE PINE TRANSFORMATION Burn out Grief, loss, & depression Isolation & loneliness Discouragement Overwhelmed Hope
The Dead Bones of Transformation
“Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:4b-6

Dry. bones. 


Disillusioned. brokenness. 


Dreams. decayed. 


Desires. dead. 


The Hope I fanned relentlessly to keep aflame 


Burnt out in the fire 


A smoldering pile of ashes 


I have. nothing. left. to. give. 


My bones – sucked dry. 


Stale, brittle. 


Weary, cracked. 


Unable to envision new life.  


But from far away and from another time, I can hear Ezekiel prophesying, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:4b-6) 


And when I close my eyes to imagine the valley of the dead, where I have pitched my wind-blown tent in desolation, I can picture the absolutely-no-life-in-them bones coming together, with tendons, flesh, skin...and as I continue to look, I can see breath miraculously entering the once-completely-dead bodies as they come to life again. Resurrected. A vast army


No longer defeated 


But victorious 


Hope-once-dead 


Rises powerfully from the ashes 


Can you see it too? 


Transformation finds a way to determinedly write itself back into the Story. 


Lauren Daigle sings in Come Alive (Dry Bones)


“But we know that You are God, Yours is the victory 


We know there is more to come 


That we may not yet see 


So with the faith You've given us 


We'll step into the valley unafraid, yeah  


As we call out to dry bones, come alive, come alive 


We call out to dead hearts, come alive, come alive 


Up out of the ashes, let us see an army rise 


We call out to dry bones, come alive” 


We are dependent on God’s grace, aren’t we, for eyes of faith to see the miracle that He’s doing? To see the Story of Transformation that He is writing through our brokenness and deadness and inability to take another step forward. Our dry bones and dead hearts can live again. There really is more to come than we can imagine. Hope will rise yet again when our Resurrection God breathes Life to rekindle the extinguished fire we couldn’t keep aflame without Him. 


As weary sisters in this valley of dry bones, let us reach for each other’s hands and rise together anew as part of our God’s resurrected army.


Closing Prayer
Resurrection God, thank you for bringing us from death to life in all the ways that you do. Help us to see you, to see the inconspicuous miracles that you’re doing around us and in us, to see beyond our natural ability to see. Help us to be aware of our sisters who are on a similar desert journey so that we can join together and break out of the crippling isolation. You have promised to never leave us and you never intended us to journey through the darkness of our faith on our own. Amen.
Resources
Song: Come Alive (Dry Bones) by Lauren Daigle This song brings Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones experience to life.
Book: The Lazarus Life: Spiritual Transformation for Ordinary People by Stephen W. Smith This book uses the story of Lazarus’ resurrection to highlight the spiritual transformation we can experience today.
Article: To Live Again by Jodie Pine This blog post shares our son’s personal story from death to life.
Question for Reflection

What has been your experience with the valley of dry bones?

Comments
Jodie Pine
August 14, 2024

When our youngest son was hospitalized with a severe brain infection just before we adopted him eight years ago, we didn’t know how much of him God was going to bring back to life again. After 6 days in a coma, he had lost virtually all of his functions. We knew He could do a miracle and bring him fully back to life like Lazarus. But we also knew He might not choose that route and our son might not be able to communicate with us for the rest of his life. We are grateful for the ways that God did bring healing as well as for the ways that “Unfinished” for our son means a life of dependence that is teaching all of us more about dependence on our God of the Resurrection.