I started a new devotion through the Bible app this week. It’s titled “Help for Your Hard Days”.
The author states “we’re funny as humans. We tend to think in terms of all or nothing. So we insist that life is great when we’re breaking apart inside. Because to do otherwise would be to discount all of God’s goodness in our lives, right? But the reality is we always live with both blessing and brokenness. Challenges and victories. Sorrow and joy. They’re all mixed up together.”
I felt as if this author had described me perfectly. I have so much to be thankful for. Matter of fact, I am living in the midst of answered prayers that I didn’t even know to ask for, and yet, there are moments in the same day that I wonder what God is doing in my life. I have to laugh at the juxtaposition of it all. Incredibly blessed, and incredibly hard – at the same time.
Another term I’ve been hearing recently is living in the “now and the not yet”. I can clearly look back and see that I am not where I was, with a heart full of gratitude, and I still look forward to the “not yet” because I have not seen some prayers answered. Someone described it as an in-between stage – which can be incredibly difficult.
Can I tell you one thing I have learned through all of this?
I do not have to sugar coat any of what I am feeling with God, and I can still clearly see His goodness through all of this.
A verse springs to mind: Psalms 27:13, which states “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living,” and for this, my heart does not stay fixed on the hard days.
Dear Heavenly Father, I am so grateful that I have experienced your love and care in such a way that has been so real to me. I pray for those who are reading this who are in their “in-between” phase – they are not where they were, but they have not seen the answers they have been seeking. I pray that you would comfort them and provide for all their needs, according to your riches in glory.