Though I couldn’t put my finger on what it was or why, I was having a sad day and just had a longing feeling that I needed God today more than ever. While I do praise Him for that ability to want Him and to long for Him on the sad days, these thoughts entered into my mind:
Feasts and famines.
Mountain tops and valleys.
Ebbs and flows.
Winters and Spring times.
Ups and downs.
Promised Lands and Desert Wastelands.
Highs and lows.
Scripture’s sprinkled with them.
And, if we’re all honest about it, our lives are littered with them.
Your life.
My life.
The guy-next-door ‘s life.
Even the woman-living-down-the-street-in-the-cul-de-sac’s life is not immune to them.
What I’m referring to are the sad times, the thrilling times, the confusing times, the tormenting times, the I’m-so-happy-I-have-sprinkles-on-my-ice-cream-cone times, and the run-of-the-mill, regular, in-between times of life.
I guess part of It we could just label as (or write off as) “that’s life.”
That’s the way it goes sometimes, for sure.
Perhaps, the up’s and down’s and all-around’s are just what life’s made up of.
However, sometimes, the “feasts” and “famines” of life are direct results of our faulty mental decisions and flighty emotional choices, which lead to physical actions and spiritual (or unspiritual! Eeee.) life REactions. After all, you reap what you sow, right? Another way of saying it, like my dear sweet Grandma Murphy used to quote, “You make your bed…. Now, you lay in it!” [haha, ohh grandma memories… love them!]
However, far below the surface of our own wants, desires, causes, and effects, lies the stark reality that God is not only present as a director-of-sorts on the stage of life; rather, He’s the script-writer. Nothing happens that skips His attention or overrides His sovereignty.
In other words, the “feasts” and “famines” of our lives are directly ordered, packaged, sealed, and shipped to our little houses as result of God, out of His deep love for us, reaching down and hugging our lives with His sometimes painfully-heart-wrenching, yet-fully-needed-and-necessary interventions. (For further evidence of this truth, see the entire book of Job.)
Regardless of the exact origin of our lives’ feasts and famines, they each serve as reminders to us.
A reminder that we’re all frail.
That we’re human by nature.
That we’re broken by choice.
That we’re subject to roller-coaster emotions and cotton-candy-like feelings.
All of that to say: our frailty, our human nature, our brokenness, and our ever-changing emotions and feelings draw us to a solid, divine, whole, perfect, complete, holy, and unchanging God.
Buuuuut…..not only do these times in our lives serve as reminders, they. each. have. a. purpose. While I can no more give you the A,B,Cs or the 1,2,3s as to “why” God’s permitting/orchestrating such-in-such situation(s) in your life right now than the next girl, I can give you this hope: God is ever-present. and ever-loving. He came to die so that you could live. And not just live any life, or have a hope of eternal life (though both of those are included!),…. He came to give you life, so you could live it MORE ABUNDANTLY (John 10:10b). This time in your life is divinely purposeful for your ultimate good and His ultimate glory.
Today, in whatever season of life you’re in, find a reason to rest in God’s goodness. And don’t just take my word for it, either. Taste and see for yourself. KNOW that He is God. He is oh-so-gooood. And He’s is using your current life’s circumstances to remind you not only that you’re frail, but also that you’re HIS. And while you’re at it, know this: His purposes for you and your life are much higher and greater than anything you even have the ability to conceive or imagine on your own.
With all that rambling to the forefront, I close with this thought:
At the end of the day and now that I’m looking back, I wouldn’t’ve traded my awkwardly, out-of-the-blue sad day today for anything because it was used to draw me closer to the Creator of my day. Thank you, Jesus, that you don’t waste a single little thing.
Ohhh, I just wonder, what's He using to draw you closer to Him today?
When I was younger, my siblings and I very quickly learned which errands to go on with my mom and which errands to run far away from. The one errand in particular I want to share with you this morning is when my mom would go up to the bank. Now, I don’t believe this bank is in business any longer; but back in the 90s, my mom would go to the drive-through teller at Barnett Bank. Whenever you went to the drive-up teller at Barnett Bank, they would give out lollipops to the kids in the car, which is probably while they’re no longer in business today because the Hill kids depleted them of their lollipops back in the 1990s. But seriously, mom would pack all of us in the car, she’d talk with the bank teller, she’d get her envelope full of money, and they’d ask how many kids were in the car… she’d say 5. They’d say “send back some of the money to cover the cost of all those lollipops, lady.” No just kidding. But on those bank errands, everything was fine. Things went surpri...
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