Have you ever received something at just the right time? Something that was exactly what you needed for the moment you were in?
I did. This very day.
It was an encouraging note from a Facebook friend in the States that read “I still think of your Lance and your family. May God continue to give you peace and love <3<3<3”
Such a beautiful gift in my morning…..
…..the “little” things.
In a time when fear runs rampant in our society. When life is uncertain, and it’s easy to begin doubting that God’s still here; He speaks.
Through that small gesture on my friend’s part, He spoke.
He speaks. He’s here. His love and peace continue to blanket us when our eyes are fixed on Him. On His kingdom. His glory. Not the circumstances around us.
He is faithful.
God, is faithful.
I must never forget that.
For if I do….all hope is gone.
And.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Proverbs 13:12
“Lord, through my loss of Lance, You were there. You were my comfort, my strength, the One who held me together. And through all of “this”, You remain unchanged. The world has changed drastically in a very short time. But You are still God. And You are still faithful. Help me to remember. Help me to believe. Help me to trust. In Jesus name. Amen.”
It doesn’t look like I thought it would. Does yours?
Life.
It has a strange way of completely turning and taking you
down paths you would never choose for yourself. Like the death of a child–or a
spouse, or someone else you never thought you’d have to learn how to live
without; the diagnosis from your doctor you’ve always heard of but wasn’t ever
supposed to hear yourself; the papers from the lawyer that knock the wind out
of you.
“They” say life is about choices. And I suppose it is. It
isn’t like I really disagree, but sometimes I wonder, “Who the heck is “they”
and what do they really know?” Because even if life is about choices, sometimes
those choices are limited by circumstances.
But I guess that’s the point. When limited by circumstances, we still have choices. Even if it’s simply to choose to not give up.
Simply?
Seems to me, that is a pretty huge choice.
In the seasons that never seem to end, where you are taking
hit after hit after hit until you don’t think you could possibly ever take one
more without completely being crushed and bleeding on the floor, to “simply”
choose to not give up is HUGE! To remember, even if you can’t quite believe it
in that moment, that this season won’t last forever—every season eventually has
an end, and to trust that another day will come, and with it will come sunshine,
is a powerful choice to make.
To look around you at all that is wrong, and painful, and overwhelming; to acknowledge and feel it, yet see beyond—even when you can’t really see beyond yet, is to choose trust.
Trust.
What exactly is trust?
According to dictionary.com it is “confident expectation of
something, hope”.
So, can we really choose to trust? Is trust really a
choice?
I think it is. But I’m also learning something important
about that choice. It matters what or who you choose to trust in.
Personally, I and my family have been in a real season of
testing. The last few months have been brutal and there have been more than one
occasion where I have felt I have reached the end of my rope and can’t take one
more thing. And then one more thing hits.
I’ve cried. I’ve screamed. I’ve pleaded with God. And nothing has changed—or so it appeared. Recently, however, I have realized, my circumstances may not have changed—but I have. Inwardly I have changed. I’ve let go of old beliefs that were never meant to define me. I’ve released anger, judgement, fear and deeper levels of grief. I’m emerging from this season a different person than I went in, and as hard and intense as the season has been, and as much as I would have preferred not to have gone through it, I like who I am becoming. Or is it really becoming? Perhaps it’s discovering underneath all that I let go, the real me I was intended to be when God first created me.
So I’ve come to the conclusion; trust is a choice. But it is vitally important Who that trust is placed in, because that will make all the difference in the world as to who we become (or unbecome) in these seasons. And only when our trust is placed in Someone bigger than our circumstances will we make it through battle weary but stronger than when we went in.
Choice is power. What, or Who are you choosing to trust in?
In case you are needing a bit of encouragement today here is my current favourite song. If you are battle weary too, pause, close your eyes, breathe and listen. I pray you will find some sort of relief and release as you do.
