Proverbs 13:12
Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick,
but a sudden good break can turn life around.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
It’s raining here today… a cold rain with an occasional sleet pellet – but rain just the same. After a week of sub-freezing temperatures and a hefty layer of ice that still covers much of the grass and hillsides, we’re glad for “just rain.” In fact, when the temperature “soared” to the low-to-mid-thirties yesterday, people acted like we were having a heat wave. Some dragged out shorts and t-shirts… many more shucked their heavy coats. And when the sun began to shine a few days ago, everybody’s mood brightened!
A week ago, people on Facebook were lamenting their “cabin fever”… complaining about spending two or three days in a row cooped up in the house. At the first sign of melting, many ventured out – if only to Wal-Mart – thrilled for the “sudden good break”. They had hoped for at least a sign that warmer weather was coming… and its arrival changed their whole mood.
Sound silly? Maybe. But here’s something that isn’t. When you have one genuine unrelenting disappointment after another, you do become discouraged… even heartsick. When one family member after another gets sick… or dies… you begin to wonder whether God truly cares about you. When Christmas is coming and the plant where you have worked for more than a decade is scheduled to close on December 31st - and you are losing your paycheck, benefits, and more - you feel like you will never smile again. When your marriage or relationship falls apart, you back your car into a post, and the dog gets sick… you start to feel like “if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all”!
Without a doubt, there are times in our lives when we seem to experience “unrelenting disappointment”. More than a few of us have experienced a season when we were truly heartsick. But just as many of us have had a “sudden good break” that seemed to turn things around… at least temporarily. Just like a warmer, sunshine-filled day after a dreary ice storm, the clouds seemed to part, and our spirits were lifted.
This is what God offers us… every single day! God doesn’t want us to operate in “cloudy days”. He doesn’t want our lives to be filled with disappointments that just won’t quit… or situations that leave us heartbroken and clouded by despair. He wants us to look to Him for answers… to trust that He is still with us, no matter what… to have hope and confidence that He will turn things around.
God is better than a “sudden good break”… because He is constant and steady. And while it may seem at times like He has totally deserted us and left us to wallow in the pit of misery… nothing could be further from the truth. This is the time when we cannot see how busy God is… working things out for us. Perhaps He is taking our lives in a different direction. Maybe He is planning for a season of growth… or preparing us to nurture someone else because of our own heartache. There are so many things about how God operates that we cannot see and understand… but I am confident that leaving us to fend for ourselves is not one of them!
Eighteen years ago, dear friends to Greg and me lost their 17-year-old son in a terrible car accident. Several students were returning one night from an out-of-town basketball game when their car crashed. Two young men were killed. Yesterday on Facebook, the brother of the other young man who was killed posted to the daughter of our friends and said, “When I think about all that happened that night, I don't know that I would change a thing. It was this day 18 years ago that shaped the man I am today, and I know it has molded into your heart a mother’s love. God is pretty awesome. I don't know about you, but there were times when I literally needed to feel Gods touch...and He always came through.”
To be able to recognize God’s hand in such a tragedy… to see how He could turn such horrific events into something good and mold a strong, faithful Christian man and a loving, Godly mother to two young boys as a result… exemplifies lives filled with hope in Jesus Christ. Are you sitting around waiting for a “sudden good break”… or do you believe that God is creating the events that will turn your life around… even as you read this? Do you trust His ability and desire to transform your heartaches into happiness… to carry you through the rough seasons and restore your joy… to shower you with blessings you never even saw coming?
Will you live your life with perpetual “cabin fever” and discontent… or will you operate in hope for the brighter days ahead? This IS a choice… and it’s yours. What will you decide?
©2013 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment