For various reasons, this past year
has been the most painful year of my life by far. As of late, God has
graciously given me a mild reprieve, but I still spend a lot of time thinking
about all that happened this year and the way God used trials and tribulations
to remold and reshape me.
What do you do when
everything you have placed your hope and security in is swept out from
underneath you like a rug, leaving you hopeless and literally on the floor,
asking, “Why, God?”
As dramatic of a description as
that may seem, I know what it feels like to lose out on a dream. It’s
heartbreaking. And for me, even though it was a rude awakening, it was also a
fresh beginning and a chance to truly, for the very first time, trust God and
give him the pen of my life’s story—including my most of all my faith story.
We can never let ourselves forget
that the struggle is part of the story. The nightmare we may be living—or
have lived at some point—is something God can use to remind us of our need for
Him. He can take our broken pieces and make them into something beautiful if we
only trust Him. I know because I have experienced it.
“As for you, O Lord, you will
not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your
faithfulness will
ever preserve me!” {Psalm
40:11}
In these hard times, we often have
to hit rock bottom before we realize our true need for God. In these times, we
find Him on our knees. And when we do—when we humble ourselves before
the Lord and ask Him for help—that is when we are reminded of whose arms will
never fail us, whose ears will never tire of our cries and whose shoulder we
can always lean on.
“I waited patiently for the
Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my
cry.
He drew me up from the pit of
destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.”
{Psalm 40:1-3}
When I was forced to deal with the
broken pieces of an unhappy circumstance that came my way last year, the Lord
opened my eyes to see that the life I had been living was utterly self-focused.
He had so many wonderful purposes for allowing my struggle! I realized that I
had been so narrow-minded in getting what I wanted most that I placed some
important relationships in my life on the back burner.
“For my thoughts are not your
thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher
than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your
ways
and my thoughts than your
thoughts.” {Isaiah 55:8-9}
And as the Lord continued closed
some major doors in my life, I had to learn to dance in the hallway until more
of them opened up. And, even now—even though many doors have opened and many
changes have taken place in my life—I am still dancing in the hallway in some
areas. But I have hope that even if the doors I want opened remain closed, God
knows better than I do, and His ways are not my ways.
Today I pray that God would open
the eyes of everyone reading this to see that His ways are best. And even when
struggles come, those struggles have a purpose and an important role in our
stories. Let the struggles draw you closer to God and teach you true dependence
on Him alone.
Faith.
