April 26, 2024
Have you ever had one of those “seasons” in your life when it seems like things just go from crazy to crazier or hard to harder, and you just don’t understand or can’t begin to explain? Well, if you have not experienced one of these seasons consider yourself blessed. (I also want to talk to you .)
I feel like I have been in one of these seasons for most of the last year or so. We have experienced sickness, multiple surgeries, job changes, pay cuts, appliances dying, expenses skyrocketing, moving our special needs daughter to a new location (and that adjustment period alone can be more than enough to handle), a car wreck, and more. This is not all of my list, but I’m sure you get the picture.
I’m not telling you this to have you feel sorry for me or even pity me. In fact, I really don’t even like to talk about it because I can’t understand it. If I’m going to be honest, it makes me uncomfortable because I think people might assume there’s something “wrong” with us. We aren’t living right, we don’t have enough faith, we are not being obedient, etc., etc.
If I can’t explain why this is all happening to me then it gives everyone the right to form their own opinion or interpretation as to why. I’m being totally transparent when I say “I don't like that at all!"
If there is something wrong, I want to fix it. If there is a lesson I need to learn, I want to learn it. If there is a reason, I want to know it.
But really, life isn’t like that. Life is crazy. Life is tough. Life is hard to understand. But God is the constant. God brings peace. God provides strength. God is the calm to my crazy.
Sometimes, or a lot of the time, I just have to be reminded of these things. I love to look at my “memories” on Facebook. You know how they show you things you posted on the same day, just in a different year. Most of the time mine are things about my grandchildren which is why I love to look and be reminded of the memories.
This past weekend I had a memory pop up of something I had posted four years ago. It was a quote that read, ”Don’t wait for things to get easier, simpler, better. Life will always be complicated. Learn to be happy right now, otherwise, you’ll run out of time.”
Considering where I am in my life with my past months of “junk” it made me think. What was happening in my life four years ago when I posted this quote? I’m sure something was going on that prompted me to think this was worthy of posting. Isn’t it funny that I don’t remember what was going on?
I would say this is because I don’t remember things that happened yesterday much less four years ago, or I’m old, but really I think it’s more than that. It goes back to "but God." No matter what, I have the love and presence of a living God in my life and He walks with me through everything.
I’m sure there are people who have many more problems, trials and junk in their life than I do, and as scary as it is to me some are walking through these things without God. I can’t imagine it, but the truth is that they are.
I know that my life might not get easier, it could get harder. I know that my life might not get simpler, it could get way more complicated. But I know that my joy and happiness are not based on my circumstances or what is going on in my life.
My hope, trust, joy and contentment are in the Lord! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t win this battle every day. Do I get discouraged? Of course I do! Do I have bad days? Absolutely! Do I have a good (ugly) cry? Yes and again I say yes!
But do I lose hope and give up? No! Never! If I thought there was not a God with a plan, a purpose, and provision then I most definitely could lose hope and give up. But there is a God! There is a God who loves me, who will never fail or forsake me, who forgives me when I fail, who blesses me, who gives me abundant life, who meets my needs, and who is my Shepherd so I lack nothing.
This life is temporary, my troubles are temporary, but my God is eternal! It almost makes me want to shout. Every time I start to let this life get me down God reminds me. He might remind me through a friend, through a sermon, through His Word, through a song or through a memory on Facebook, but HE reminds me.
He reminds me that, yes, this life can and will be hard but He takes care of me. He walks with me. He loves me and that alone is enough. I still am not a fan of these hard “seasons” but I am a fan of God. I will choose to remember that God can and will see me through. I will choose to remember that my joy is not in my life circumstances but in my eternal life with Jesus.
I am sure, because I am human, that I still won’t like the hard seasons. But God, He doesn’t let the storm last forever, He sends a rainbow. He doesn’t let me stay down, He is the lifter of my head. He doesn’t let the heat totally drain you, He sends a cool breeze, and He doesn’t let your heart stay cold and frozen, He sends a warm fire.
All these things are reminders. I know we all have tough seasons but let’s try really hard not to waste our energy assuming that others might look at our lives and think something’s wrong. Why don’t we pray that others can look at us and see a rainbow, feel a cool breeze, sense a warm fire, lift their head up and see Jesus. That, my friends, is what really matters!!
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Jill Johnson, a staff member at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, finds spiritual applications in her everyday experiences as a wife, mother, grandmother and Georgian. Reach her at jjohnson@gabaptist.org.
