Keep Calm and Carry On

Are things out of order for you? They are for me! Just when I thought things were getting better I got slammed to the floor (figuratively speaking) last week! What a mess things are in our lives right now. I just want to throw a fit and scream and cry and, yeah, I even want to jump off the mountain at times. (Only my really close friends will understand that last part, but it's okay, you get the picture.) I know I will get through this. Sometimes I get afraid I won't. I guess you do too, right? I get afraid the situation won't get any better, the pain will never leave, the depression will get worse. Stuck here in the pits surrounded by high walls, clashes of thunder and bolts of lightning I wonder will things ever get any better? Will this load ever get lighter? Will we ever get out of this pit?

YES!

As Max Lucado said, "Out of the lions' den for Daniel, the prison for Peter, the whale's belly for Jonah, Goliath's shadow for David, the storm for the disciples, the disease for the lepers, doubt for Thomas, the grave for Lazarus, and the shackles for Paul. God gets us through stuff. Through the Red Sea onto dry ground (Ex. 14:22), through the wilderness (Deut. 29:5), through the valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23:4), and through the deep sea (Ps. 77:19)."

Through seems to be a favorite word of God's. (Isa 43:2)

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you:
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor, shall the flame scorch you.

He doesn't say it will be painless. Have you wept your final tear or received your final round of chemo? Not necessarily. Will your unhappy marriage turn happy in a quick minute? Not likely. Are you exempt from any trip to the cemetery? God doesn't guarantee the absence of struggle. Not in this life. But He does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.

God will use your mess for good. We see a perfect mess; God sees the perfect chance to train, test, and teach the future. We see a prison; God sees a kiln. We see famine; God sees the relocation of His chosen lineage. We call it Egypt; God calls it protective custody, where the sons of Jacob can escape barbaric Canaan and multiply abundantly. We see Satan's tricks and ploys. God sees Satan tripped and foiled.

Life in the pit stinks. Yet for all its rottenness, it forces us to look upward. God's got this.

Keep calm and carry on!