Are you at a place where you feel not necessarily dead, but barely existing under exhaustion, fear, hypervigilance, grief and responsibility? Where survival has taught you to stay emotionally compressed by not needing, feeling, resting, trusting or hoping too much. Yet, there’s something inside begging for more. Longing for different. A want to live and leave the decay and survival behind.

Jesus says, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up.” (Mark 5:41) Do you hear Him? He’s talking to you too.

^40-43 But when he had sent them all out, he took the child’s father and mother, along with his companions, and entered the child’s room. He clasped the girl’s hand and said, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up.” At that, she was up and walking around! This girl was twelve years of age. They, of course, were all beside themselves with joy. He gave them strict orders that no one was to know what had taken place in that room. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.” – Mark 5:40-43 (MSG)

His command is powerful but incredibly gentle. He’s not saying things like,

• Prove yourself.
• Hurry up
• Why are you still down?
• Fix your life

It’s simply…. “Rise. Come back to life.”

That landed deeply with me as I sat with God. I felt like He was speaking to me and I felt it deep within my body.

I’ve spent years, in trauma therapy, women’s Bible study, Celebrate Recovery, learning how to undo a lifetime of surviving. Survival taught me to stay emotionally compressed and not too much. I was taught to be someone who doesn’t need, feel, rest, trust or hope too much. Over time, you become dormant and not really living.

This simple verse caught my attention today. I hear an invitation to resurrection language. A permission to live. Permission to take up space. Permission to stop identifying with decay of my old life. Permission to become someone beyond the role of carrier, fixer, or survivor.

Notice something else in the story. Jesus touches her hand before telling her to rise. This tells us that connection precedes movement. Jesus wants a relationship where we trust him. Love him. Know that He is for us. That his gentle rhythms of grace is what sustains us. His tender kindness draws us in to know Him and his character.

It’s taken almost a full year of diligently sitting with God daily and learning Jesus’s character. I’m beginning to experience safety, grace, and love first which is slowly doing something within me.

No longer living life driven by fear. I am choosing and desire to leave the decay behind. So long to my old patterns:

• old family roles
• burnout identity
• chronic emotional over-responsibility
• believing exhaustion = love
• believing suffering is where my worth comes from

“Talitha koum” speaks against that entire structure. Not with violence, but with an invitation. A gentle command toward life and away from the parts of me that were buried under adaptation and survival.

Notice that the little girl in the story does not raise herself, she responds to a gentle and loving invitation. Do you hear Jesus calling? “Get up, little girl.”