When she looked at me and said, “don’t worry, the Lord will provide” I wanted to scream
Yeah, sure, the Lord’s going to provide. I know that. I know he’ll come through, I know his will will prevail. I get all that. Blah blah blah
But what about right now? But what about how I’m feeling, I'm just supposed to stuff all this and act like it doesn’t exist. Am I just supposed to push these emotions down and become a robot that God’s going to provide so nothing bothers me.
Sister, I don’t think that’s it. Matter of fact I know it's not. I don’t think God gave us emotions to stuff them, to act like they don’t exist.
When I look back and see the Lord’s hand in my life, it never looks like what I expected it to look like. Reality is, we aren’t promised that things are gonna work out how we want them to. We aren’t promised the husband, we are promised the family, we aren't promised the job or the promotion or the financial security.
So what do we do with that? What do we do when we don’t get what we want, when it looks like everybody else is getting what we hope for and what we dream for, but just hold on 🙄, the Lord’s gonna provide, right?
I’m not saying this to be sacrilegious, I’m not even saying this to doubt that God really is in control. I’m writing to you today so that you know you’re not alone. You’re not alone in questioning, you’re not alone in losing hope sometimes, you’re not alone in wondering if things are ever really gonna work out for you
That doesn’t mean we lose hope, that doesn’t mean we quit wanting either.
That means that we put our hope in Jesus! He never promised we would get what we want or that it would all be easy but he did promise that he would be with us through it all. That we would go to him with our sadness, our grief, our disappointments.
I don’t think being a Christian means we walk around all smiles like everything is sunshine and rainbows all day long
I think, being a follower of Jesus, means were real, but even in our sorrow, even in our sadness, we have hope that the Lord’s plans will prevail.
We remind ourselves of what is true, true about us, true about God, and we trust that his ways are better than ours and that he is with us even when it’s hard, even when it hurts even when it doesn’t feel good.
Oh friend, I so wish I could tell you that everything is gonna work out exactly how you want it to. That you’re going to get all your hopes and dreams and desires… But I can't. I want to be at a place where I want his will more than my own, I’m not always there, actually most of the time I’m selfish and want what I want.
I am reminded of Habakkuk 3:17-1
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
So know today that even if things look like they are crumbling in front of you that he is with you though it all.
