Are you in a life battle that is fierce? Do you feel overwhelmed? Have you reached the point of not understanding what to do? Have you literally come to "the end of yourself"? Does God seem silent and distant?
When someone says to you - "I know how you feel" you unequivocally know unless they stand in your shoes and see what you see and face what you face - they do not. However, don't underestimate those who want you to know that you are not the only one who has faced a severe trial. This life is full of them. We may all say the wrong things even with the best intentions - take it the way it is meant. You are not alone. You may feel that you are but you definitely are NOT!
My pages of suffering may not read the same as your current chapter but I can almost guarantee you that the ups and down of our faith and our feelings would be similar. We are human and at our core - part of a family of God related by our DNA. Divine Nature Attributes. (John 14:23). But in our current state of being - encased in flesh - we can get lost in the "now" and forget that whatever we are going through is AT BEST temporary.
Minutes can seem like hours, hours like days and so it goes when deep trials and years of relentless affliction seem to pound us like a hurricane. We hoped to hear good news from the doctor and get the wind knocked out of us with even more unexpected bad news. I see you - I hear you! Even more importantly, God sees you and He can be holding you together in those moments and you won't even recognize that He was until a little further down the road.
It felt like an eternity when my baby girl was premature and in the hospital for 3 weeks and not expected to live. Today, I have the intense joy of holding and playing with her youngest - the sweetest little boy ever!
Just five months after my baby daughter was born, my oldest daughter (16) was in a car accident. Over the next 25 years we spent thousands (yes thousands) of days in the hospital and all together, nine THOUSAND one hundred and twenty five days taking care of her before God decided to end her suffering and take her home to heaven.
I can't explain the why(s) of God to you. I still don't know why he didn't stop the bullet which killed my mother at 37 years old or the gangrene that took my dad when he was 42. NO! I can't explain the why. I can tell you that it is MUCH MORE IMPORTANT to know more of WHO GOD is than to have all the answers to all the why(s) of all the mysteries of life.
God can and will sustain you through the worst this fallen planet can dish out AND give you a glorious future which far outweighs any of your present suffering. (Romans 8:18) I can tell you that His grace is lavishly poured out onto us who are His at all times.
This past weekend, I was blessed to go with a good girlfriend to see my husband perform with his band. Many would understandably take this for granted. For me, it was an intense worship experience of gratitude. I'm sure those around me thought I was a little insane for tearing up at a Beach, Soul and Motown (happy) concert. It was gratitude spilling out my eyes.
My dear ones - ever how deeply the cuts are from what you are going through - in Christ - become the gullies that He fills with living water when the blessings come back around.
God has got you and those you love. He will never leave you and He will never forsake you and HE IS COMING for you soon!
