So today, couldn’t we all use a little bit of normal in our topsy-turvy world? So often, we wonder what normal is because it seems so far away from where we are.
Worry presents as a nagging backdrop, and very bold fears fray the edges of our peace. Things that creep into the good spaces to haunt us as we forget the blessings that surround us. They come by the twos and threes, and yeah, some days they come like a marching army to take over the day. They become like obsessions that present themselves as mountains too high, too big, too wide, and too daunting to even care.
These are times we all need to catapult into a new day with a really big faith in our really big God, who holds it all in His hand anyway. Yeah, when life seems turned upside down, God is our stability. He’s our Normal when nothing else is. He’s our faithful when no one else is. He’s our Protector, Provider, Sustainer, Grace Giver, and unconditional lover, and in our weakness, we’ve got to know that He is our strength and shield. When our weakness presents its “What Do I Do Now” moments and we feel very insecure, unsettled, and much like David when he penned the words of Psalm 142, we need to respond much as he did.
He’s feeling very overwhelmed by his persecutors and circumstances, and reached a place of despair where he felt no one cared at all about his plight. Yet, he looks to the LORD for wisdom, and in Verse 5, he comes to his senses again, where he says,
“But then I pray to you, O LORD. I say, You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.”
David reached a place in his running from harassment where he just knew his God was His Lord and His constant loving, unconditional caregiver, surrounding him at all times, everywhere, behind and before. Covering him around and through, up and down, inside and out, his God had it all together in His safekeeping. His God didn’t change; His God was always faithful, and even when trouble impacted his day, His God was stable, always there, always caring, always providing, always protecting.
Let’s realize that even on our not-so-normal days, and in those not-so-normal moments, our God is our unshakeable sustainer and our “normal” even in adverse situations.
Wishing You a Beautiful Day
So when things just aren’t the way they seem, and when things just don’t go the way you planned, You gotta know it’s all ok anyway right? That medical diagnosis, just wasn’t what you thought it might be! That bank account that wasn’t topped off as you thought, and comes right down it, it left high you and dry with huge demands nipping at your heels. That friend, who well, turns out, wasn’t a friend after all and rather than supporting you ~ betrayed you, and just made for a t
Well, friend, there is a Soul Friend when everyone else goes out. There is a Care Giver; a Sustainer, and a Provider when the bank account runs low and the cupboards are bare. There is a soul – saver and a mercy – maker when the underside of the bus is rusty and the ravenous wolves torment!
Yeah! Our Lord has this too, whatever it is that has you, and when you’re looking at the gruesome underside of the bus, you can know, even there, even though He maybe didn’t cause it, He allowed it for a purpose and uses it for your good and His glory! Phew, that’s a perfect thought for us right now!
Some days the pain goes way deep and the hurt is really real and really hard and the heart hurts and the head hurts and the soul cries and the tears flow and the days are just so overwhelming.
In these anxious filled, difficult moments, we have an Author writing our lives with pen in one nail-pierced hand and a divine paintbrush of grace-filled red in the other. His blood was shed for us and yeah, He paints our story beautifully now because of it. He’s our Saviour and He’