Ever go through those seasons in life where the poo hits the fan and all you can do is look up and point out the obvious? “Oh, the poo just hit the fan. Huh.” I’m there. Not in the worst case possible but yesterday was bad. It was a roller coaster of emotions so loopy and unexpected that I barely had time to react. I just sat there with a dazed look on my face and before I knew it, the day was all over.
Later on, not even before Tuesday had thrown the last of her punches, I found this quote by C.S. Lewis:
“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.”
That right there? It’s my life, for the past year, in a nutshell. True story. If you had told me, last summer, what I was about to go through and endure I would’ve passed out then and there at your feet. Never ever ever ever in a million years would have I guessed that God had already begun equipping me for the turbulence that I was to soar through.
Yes, soar.
I say soar because looking back it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Was it painful? You bet. Were there days that I wanted to give up, curl into a ball and hide under by bed until the world ended? Almost every day. But somehow, someway that only Jesus is aware of I was able to put one foot in front of the other and make my way out of the cold and dark valley.
There’s something about that valley, though, that has its redeeming qualities. Despite the gloom and doom of being in a place where pain dwells and weariness hangs overhead, things grow. Miraculously. I’d even venture to say that things grow, in our hearts, in a richer way than they do when life is perched on the mountaintop and nothing can touch it. But that’s just me.
I’ve learned a new way to love. I’ve learned a new way to trust. I’ve learned deeper levels of patience and seeking the heart of my Father and His will. I’ve learned that He is always nearer than I think He is and He draws nearer to me even before I can call out to him.
Then, as if God doesn’t get enough joy by bringing me through the hardest time of my life unstained, He smiles and says, “This is only the beginning my super awesome amazing epic plan for you.” And I can just see us cracking up as He reveals His will little by little and it’s everything I’ve wanted and so much more.
See? This is why I serve the God that I do. He never lets me down, He sticks with me closer than my own heartbeat and He makes me more than an over-comer.
-Sazaran
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1 comments:
You said, "Despite the gloom and doom of being in a place where pain dwells and weariness hangs overhead, things grow. Miraculously. I’d even venture to say that things grow, in our hearts, in a richer way than they do when life is perched on the mountaintop and nothing can touch it."
Agreed. That's a secret of Christ that many of us don't often learn. The world says that growth cannot happen in those places where our walk is so dark that we can't see an end. But, somehow (yes, miraculously) it happens. When growth that changes the very core of who we are occurs in the deep darkness of the valley, it's because the light of Christ (being the only thing able to) penetrates that darkness and grow whatever it is that He planted there.
Separated from the haze of the world & hidden in that dark place, His light shines brightest. Great post.
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