Have you ever stood in front of the ocean, shielding your eyes, squinting, to see how far it goes? But you never find the ending, do you? The ocean is one of my favorite places in the world. Hearing the thunder of waves crashing into the sand that squishes between your toes and feeling the cold water hit your ankles. These are things I love. And so many times I've stood in front of the ocean and looked out, trying to see as far as I could. But I've never found the end of the water. It seems to go on forever. And you know the love of Jesus? It's like that. His love is strong and beautiful. His love goes as far as what you can see and even beyond that. His love really does go on forever. There is no beginning and no end. He has always and will always love you forever. And maybe that's why I love the ocean so much. Because it reminds me of His great, unending love. It reminds me that the One who created something as beautiful and powerful as the ocean, loved me enough to make one of me too. But you know what? Sometimes we forget His love. Because the world is so distracting, isn't it? Sometimes it distracts us so much that we turn away from the greatest romance of our lives because the world has caught our focus instead with glitter that'll fade. We get caught up in the love of this world. The temporal, fading love this world offers us that will never last. The love we see in Hollywood and the love we see in the media. We reach for it in every way we can, thinking it'll make us complete. By dressing to impress, flirting to get attention, and going from one relationship to the next, searching. Searching for that endless love. We get caught up in the dreams of this world. The cheap, plastic dreams that promise if you get a good education, a good job with benefits, and climb the corporate ladder, then maybe you'll make your mark on the world. We reach for it by constantly wearing ourselves out working so hard to make that next sale, make more money, get that big job. Searching for something to satisfy. We get caught up in all of it. All of these things that we think will satisfy us. All of these things that we think will fulfill us. We get caught up in it because somewhere along the way, we got distracted from the Lover of our soul that whispers His love to us in everything. That rainbow after the storm? It's His promise to you. That hot summer day where the sun kisses your cheeks and makes you feel free? It's His whisper of joy found in Him. That ocean stretching farther than you could ever see? It's His promise of unending love. So here's my question for you, dear heart: You know the truth. You know His love. You know how much you mean to Him. You know that He is the true Lover of your soul. You know that He is crazy about you. You know that nothing you ever do will ever make Him walk away. You know that you make Him smile. You know that His love is everything you will ever need. So is He everything that you want? Are you willing to make Him all that your heart desires, whatever that means? Maybe it means letting go of your earthly ideas of love to grasp a hold of this crazy, radical love He is offering to you. Maybe it means walking away from a dream of this world to take a hold of His great and holy dreams for your life. Maybe it means losing things close to you to stand with Him. Maybe it means being rejected by the world so that you can find your acceptance and identity in Him. Here's what I promise you. He is all you will ever need. He is everything. Run back to Him, dear one. Whatever has distracted you or taken you away from Him, run back to His arms. Remember that He is your true Lover. Let Him be all that your heart ever wants. And next time you stand at the ocean? Let those crashing waves remind you that His love never ends. His love is everything. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 3:7-14~ Growing up, I used to dread Father's Day. It was the one day out of the year that I never wanted to come. It was hard and if I was honest? It hurt. Sometimes more than I wanted to admit. I knew that God was my Father, but did that cause me to always jump up and down for a day celebrating earthly fathers and declare my joy? Nope. I still had wounds deep in my heart from an earthly father and facing a day celebrating great earthly dads was just plain hard. Maybe you feel that too. Maybe, you too, have tried to hide your pain behind a smile as you just hope the day passes more quickly. Maybe you've been wounded by an absent father, by an abusive father, by a selfish father. Maybe your father was nowhere near what you had hoped and the person who was supposed to help you learn about love actually hurt you before anyone else could. Or maybe the pain of Father's Day in your heart really wasn't your father's fault at all. Maybe you lost your dad at an early age and you barely remember him, or maybe the loss of his life is more recent and stings more than you thought it would. Whatever your situation, I understand the pain that Father's Day can sometimes cause. And so if you're fighting back tears today, here are 3 truths I want you to cling to: 1. It's okay to cry. Often I would bury my pain. I would hide it and smile and pretend that it didn't actually hurt and I wasn't actually broken over it. It's like putting a band aid over a deep wound. It'll cover it up, but it won't heal it and in the end it'll only provide an atmosphere to cause deeper pain, an infection. Cry if you need to. Let it out. Weep. It is one hundred percent okay to cry. Even Jesus wept. (John 11:35). It's okay to cry and admit what you're feeling and I promise you...you'll never cry alone. Jesus is right there, embracing you and giving you the strength to dry your eyes. Because while you might not feel okay right now, He's mending your heart every day. 2. This part of your story is not for nothing. I used to ask God, "Why did I have to go through what I went through with my earthly dad? Why did I have to be the one with this painful story?" And the truth is that I sometimes still ask that. But what I've learned? God doesn't allow anything in my life to go to waste. Not even the messy, broken, painful parts. And a beautiful thing that He has shown me? Because I have walked through this painful dad journey, I can help someone else walk through their own painful dad journey too. I know how it feels. I know what it's like. And because of that I can meet someone in their brokenness in a way I might not have been able to if I hadn't walked through it myself. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). God can turn your greatest pain into your greatest story of His goodness. Trust me on that one. 3. He's making you stronger, day by day. While I may not always feel stronger, I know that He is making me stronger in the pain. He is giving me His strength, His strength is filling my weakness, and He is giving me the ability to do all things through Him. He's doing the same for you too. You may feel weak here and tired. You might not have the energy to face another Father's Day of pain. But trust me on this one too--He's not leaving you there. He's filling you with strength. You can do this in Him. Because in Him, you are capable of more than you could possibly ever imagine. Keep your chin up today, friend. I know today might be hard. I know many days might be hard when you don't always understand why you've had to walk this journey. And while the pain might stay, you still must know--your Heavenly Father is the greatest Father you will ever have. It might sound cliché and a little hard to grasp and that's okay. But it's true. He is the Father that is never leaving, never walking out, never letting you go, never quitting on you. He loves you. Beyond your wildest imaginations and beyond what you could possibly grasp. Rest in that today. Keep being brave. So maybe today held some things you weren't expecting? Or maybe everything changed so suddenly you were left wondering how 24 hours could change so much. And maybe you feel so exhausted you don't know what to do next. Because bravery? Yeah, bravery takes a lot of strength. It's hard. Being brave, being full of courage, is just downright hard. And some days? Well, some days we just don't have the strength to face it all. Because sometimes the scariest thought of all is stepping into what's unknown. Embracing the unknown moments of tomorrow seems scary enough, but embracing the unknown moments of next month or next year? Nope, no thank you. That takes too much brave. Sweet soul reading these words right now, I didn't break into your day to tell you a list of ways to step up and do the right thing even when you're scared. I didn't write this post to show you all the ways you could be brave but aren't. I wrote this as a reminder. A reminder that brave is your middle name. How? Why? Because no matter what you may feel about who you are, it can never change or take away the truth about Whose you are. And the One to whom you belong? Well, I can promise you that He's big enough for any scary moment that tomorrow or your next moment holds. So yeah that scary step you're not sure you should take? That courage you're not sure you can muster up to step into the unknown? It's okay. Take a deep breath and this, this is what I want you to always remember: You are brave because He is brave in you. And with your God you can scale any wall of fear in your path (Psalm 18:29), and with your God you can defeat any Goliath standing in your way (1 Samuel 17:45-46). You are brave. You are strong. He has given you just enough courage for this moment in front of you. You got this. But you can't give up, okay? Don't quit and don't give up. Keep going--keep on being brave--even when it's hard. It'll all be worth it in the end. Let Him be the brave inside of you today, dear brave you. For the last four years of my life I have lived more days sick than I have well. And I'm not going to lie to you. It's hurt. It's shaken me. It's been hard. I've cried many tears. But I've also learned more than I ever thought I would. Through the last few years of my life, God has really specifically been pressing this truth into my heart that He has beautiful things to show me and you in the hard and broken places where we sometimes think He doesn't even go. But He does. And the beauty He has is more beautiful than anything we could dream up on our own. Not easy, that's for sure. Nothing about living with chronic pain and sickness has been easy. But maybe the beauty I'm looking for? Maybe just some of that can be found in what God has taught me over the last few years, specifically from my chronic sickness. Maybe it'll bring some light to your story too, whether you live with chronic pain or not. 1. God uses my weakness for His glory. For so long, I used to think that I had to have it all together for God to use me. I thought I had to know what I was doing and I especially thought that I had to achieve some unrealistic idea of intelligence before He was going to use my life. There is nothing Biblical about that. Because here's the thing: I'm never going to be perfect. I'm never going to measure up all the time. You're never going to do any of those things either. But praise God we don't have to. So many days when I have been sick, I have been unable to do some things to the "perfect" level I wish they could be. So many times the pain has caused brain fog that prevents me from speaking as clearly as I'd like and I wonder if anything I share or write has any real impact or meaning, or even if it makes sense. And in those moments, I have felt as if God couldn't use me. But honestly that's exactly where He wants to use me. Because it's in my greatest weakness that He wants to show His great strength. He's using my weakness for His glory. And He's doing that for you too. "And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) 2. There is joy to be found even here. Honestly, it's not always easy to find joy when you're living in physical pain. If you live with chronic pain and sickness you know this to be true. It can be easy to get grumpy or irritated. It can be easy to just let the sickness take over. But something God has been showing me over these last few years is that it's okay to have "meltdown" days where you cry out to Him and ask why. But it's not okay to unpack and live there. He has more for you in store than staying stuck in that place. It's not going to be easy. But He does have a joy for you that you can grab hold of and embrace, even when it's hard and painful. Joy isn't meant to be easy. But it's worth it. "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4) 3. God can use my story to help someone else. When I first started fighting chronic pain and sickness, I didn't really talk about it, let alone write about it. That felt too...vulnerable. To talk and write openly about something that was so hard and made me feel so weak. I honestly didn't want to talk about it. I mostly just wanted to ignore it. But through the years I've learned that when we walk through some dark valley, God can use that story to impact and help someone else through their valley. No man is an island. We aren't meant to do life alone. We aren't meant to hide our weakness and suffering from each other, because sometimes sharing our own pain can be the very thing to help someone else through theirs. God can use your story in a way you might not even realize. He can use your story to help someone else through theirs. So share it...share your story, reach out to others, be a friend to someone in need. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) If you live with chronic pain or sickness, my prayer is that God would give you the strength to endure this season and still bring glory to Him. Keep being brave. <3 |
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