encouragement

Finding Strength in Waiting

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I started doing Crossfit several months ago and there are many things that I love about it however, there are a few exercises that I just can’t wrap my mind around. One of them is a rope climb. There is a very specific way that this is accomplished (and I do realize that I am going get something wrong here, I am sure, pease don’t come for me. HA!!!)

Before jumping onto the rope I was trying to remind myself of what goes where.
First – Jump high enough that I am off the ground, making sure I have a firm grip on both sides of the rope
Second – Within seconds of the jump and grab I need to make sure the rope goes on the outside and underneath my right foot
Third- Use my left foot to finish the “J” so I have a footing to “stand on”

All this has to be done within about 1 second of each other but I have tried this enough times I know that I can accomplish it. The problem was, the goal today was see how long I could hold on for. It wasn’t until I was about 10 seconds in that I realized I have been here before. The waiting, the waiting until the timer goes off and I can let go. The issue was, either it never went off or I didn’t hear it.

Sometimes when we are in a season of waiting the wave of emotions come so fast and furious that we couldn’t take inventory if we tried. Sometimes we are left with one singular emotion for so long that we have started to carry it around like a child, but also afraid to let it mature and leave the proverbial nest. In this case, it’s a matter of holding onto something to tightly that the pain is outweighing the benefit of the exercise to begin with. That’s when something dawned on me. There are times as believers we wrap our minds up so tightly around a situation or season of life that we don’t see what God is doing. I imagine it goes something like this:

“Lord, my arms are starting to tire.” I say, at a whisper
“ok, better situate your feet so there’s not so much pressure on your arms.” God says back to me.
More time went by and my next plea came from my lips “Lord, I am starting to slip, I have tried to place my feet more firmly but I am slipping”
“Hold on a little tighter” He said.
“Lord, I am holding on tighter now but my hands hurt”
“I have given you strong legs to hold yourself up, remember to use those too.”
After readjusting a little I found I could put a little more pressure on my legs but they started to shake
“Lord, my legs are shaking, my arms are tired, my hands are burning, Im starting to slip.”
“I’ve got you, hold on tighter.”
“Lord, my hands are starting to bleed, I don’t think I can hold on tighter.”
“I will be the salve for your hands, keep holding on”
“Lord, my hands are bleeding, my arms are weary, my legs are tired, the rope is slipping.”
“Hold on, hold on a little longer, I see your tears, I feel your pain, I hear your cries for help, keep holding.“
“LORD!” I yell, “the rope is fraying and digging into my bloodied hands!”
“Lord, my legs are burning from the rope being wrapped around them!
“Lord, I feel like you aren’t hearing me!”
“God, I am doing everything that you have told me and it still hurts”
“Lord, why can’t I hear you any more.”
“Lord, I can’t hold on, it hurts so much”
“Lord, I have to let go, the pain is unbearable.”
and just then, I hear a whisper “My child, let your left leg down just an inch”
And just then I realize that there is a step for me to stand on.
“Lord, how long as this bench been here?”
“I just placed it there but it took a while for me to cut down the tree, put it together and place it in just the right spot that you wouldn’t have to endure any more pain to reach it.”

*Sigh*

Have you ever felt like you were in a season like that? It reminds me of Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”

Paul doesn’t mess around! He never says that we will be free from pain, discouragement, troubles and the like but rather he says that in the midst of these things we will not be abandoned nor destroyed. It’s so hard in the moment to see the things that God is doing. In the season of waiting we are so often over consumed with the what if, the “but when” and so on but our job as believers is to remember that there is someone out there fighting FOR us.

It’s also possible that the season of waiting is about refinement. Ugh, I almost think that’s worse. It’s the allowing of God to apply heat over and over again, to bring the impurities to the top so He can remove them. But what if instead of seeing all the pain and heartache, we were able to look past those things to what He has planned for us. What if all the things that He is doing in and through us, all the refinement that is happening is all to prepare us for Heaven. What if the troubles of the right now are ways that He is working through all the muck and mire so that we can be better prepared to show someone else the path to a better life? What if the refinement, even seven times over, is done so that we are the best version of ourselves that He needs us to be for someone else. Isn’t it all worth it then? Isn’t it much more fulfilling to endure the pressure, the pain, discouragement and so on if that means that someone else will see the love of Christ in and through us? Isn’t that what He did for us?

So Lord, let it be. Let my trials, fear, pain, and the waiting season be for Your good, for Your glory and to bring others to know You. Instead of feeling beaten down by trails help me to remember that my faith is being refined.

And I don’t know where you are right now, and in no way am I meaning to make light of such things but what I do know is that He is always there. He is hears our cries and our silent tears. He knows the desires of our heart and even though we don’t always see it this way, He wants what is best for us. It is simply our job to hear Him when He says “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10a

Walking Through the Valley: Trusting God’s Plan

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In a sermon I heard the other day from Robert Mandu “You can’t rush through the valley, you must walk.” The way that he explained it is; as in Psalm 23 “though I walk through the Valley of Darkness (other versions say the darkest valley), I will fear no evil.” And what David is talking about when he wrote this Psalm is not the “City Dark”. Not, when you walk out the front door of a restaurant in the middle of of the city, this is the darkness that you see in the middle of the night when you are camping and the moon is only a sliver. The kind of darkness where even though you think your eyes are open it’s so dark that you swear you are walking in your sleep. You can’t see the steps in front of you. Even if there was a bear chasing you, there’s no way to run, you can’t see anything in front of you. THAT kind of dark. So, keeping that in mind, we have times in our lives that we are in that kind of Valley. When that happens, we aren’t in a place where we can run, it’s about walking. It’s about feeling your way through the darkness trusting that God is going to provide the light that you need on your path. And yes, there are times that the light He is giving is not something that we want to see. I get it! There have been times in the valley that I want to scream and beg God to stop. I have tried yelling, screaming, begging, crying, and while it made me feel better, it didn’t change the path, through the valley of darkness that I was on. There are times that I have tried to run through the valley under my own accord and you know what happens, I trip on a root and fall down. And when I fall, I am left laying there in the mud in the cold damp air wishing that I would have just let God do what He was trying to do instead of taking control of the thing that I knew I couldn’t and shouldn’t and frankly, had no right to control in the first place.

Then there’s the getting up out of the mud where you are embarrassed, you hope no one else saw what happened and you just want to pretend that it didn’t happen but God allows the mud to stain your clothes, leaves to be stuck in your hair and maybe even a scrape here and there because it’s a way that your story can be used in the future to show His glory and how He got you out of it.

Here’s the thing that I have realized, God knows what we need more than we do. Frankly I don’t know why I keep trying to argue this point with Him but something that He has been teaching me is that He knows what is best. God knows what you need when you need it and often times He knows what the ultimate mountaintop is that He has planned for you so maybe, God is seeing if you can handle the little things, the stuff in the valley before you are able to be trusted with the mountaintop.

I recall one time where I was sure that the Valley of Darkness was all consuming, I couldn’t see myself out of a paper bag let alone be able to take 2 steps forward. I was wrestling with facing the “pruning of the vines” in my life and both having clear direction and not being able to do anything about it, all at the same time. As the days and prayers went by I thought I was doing what God wanted me to do. It felt like it and I felt as though I was walking through doors as they came open but there was this deep, and I mean deep seated fear and insecurity that was driving my every thought. Each word that came from my mouth was digging a deeper hole. I wasn’t sleeping, eating right, working out, being relationally mature and I certainly wasn’t treating myself very well with the words that I was saying to myself, the lies that I was allowing to work their way into my heart and mind. As soon as there was something positive that I knew was from the Lord, the enemy jumped into my thoughts and I found myself in a spiral that I couldn’t get out of. I was reaching for all the tools in my tool box when I was reminded of how much I loved worship music. So, one morning, as I was singing through my worship playlist it dawned on me that the valley of darkness that I was walking through was turning into an opportunity for me to show God that I did truly trust Him with not just my future but with that very moment.

The valley can sometimes seem like it goes on forever and when we are walking through it in the darkness it’s easy to not realize that you are slowly coming out of the valley and making your way to the top of the mountain. Before you know it, the sun is starting a rise a little, and as you turn your gaze upwards instead of being so concerned with where your feet are walking you realize that you have been climbing the mountain for some time now. The fog has lifted, the sun is warming your back, your breath starts to slow, the air seems lighter and you realize that there is in fact victory coming.

And when we reach a mountaintop, because we will, it can be just as easy to tell our mind not to remember where we were just at. However, if we don’t allow ourselves to turn around, even for just one moment, we rob ourselves the opportunity to enjoy the view of where we just were. There is such powerful freedom in overcoming the valley times. I have had more valley moments in my life than I care to remember but I know, without a shadow of a doubt that God has and will continue to use those times. Plus, whether or not we want to admit it, the times in the valley are a great opportunity for endurance and as said:

“Dear brothers and sisters , when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested , your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” James 1:2-4

Valley times have been and will continue to be the hardest of times. But don’t give up. One thing that I can say with all honesty, God has lead me out of every valley that I have ever been in. While I would like to live in the fantasy world of thinking I will never be there again, I know that’s not the case. And, I know that when I am there again I will likely have to pull out the tools that remind me that it’s not a forever darkness but what I also know is the more I keep my gaze upon Him and the more that I trust His plan for my life the easier it may be to squint my eyes a little in those dark times and be able to see His light a little sooner than times before.

The Anatomy of Hope

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Not long ago I found myself standing on the Coast of the Pacific Ocean and straight ahead of me was a ship, I remember thinking to myself that it must not be that far away if I can see it. Right? Wrong. That sucker was hundreds of miles away but in my mind, if I could see it… then it was close.

That’s what hope feels like sometimes. That thing that you have been hoping for, praying for, seeking after, waiting for, working towards etc… after a point in time during our journey there are glimpses of the proverbial ship in the distance and since we can see it, it must be getting closer but sometimes, it’s not.

So why do we hope? What’s the purpose? If it’s hurts, why do we continue to press towards it?

A simple google search returns the definition of Hope as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” and as I type this out while the word itself is listed as a noun, I would venture to say that it is more of a verb. It requires something of us in order for it to take place. So, naturally I see now why there can be pain, frustration, fear, uncertainty and the list goes on… But, there is an anatomy to hope so let’s take a look at that and see why it continues to take action on our part.

Not long after writing my previous post about shame there was a new parting of the clouds that happened but in those moments it wasn’t a clear “ahhh” moment like is written in movies or described in books. It was more of the first spring morning when your eyes start to open and the brisk air that has been blowing in your window for the past 3 months is replaced with a new warmth. A ray of sunshine curves through the curtains and the birds are singing their spring song for the first time. It is the joy that comes with the first sign of tulips waking from their slumber or the first whir of a lawn mower from down the street. It’s hope that starts to make it’s way to the surface, a sign that winter has waned and spring is here. While the moment is beautiful, we are reminded within days that winter has one more round left in it. Those kind of clouds, the ones that make you go “ugh, not again.” but this time there was a new clarity. I had spend the previous months digging myself out of the shame pit and I surely wasn’t going to allow myself to go there again however, what might have been even more challenging was determining this hope that I was searching for and what exactly that would look like.

First – We must allow a time of mourning. This is a cleansing of our old ways and our old thought patters to make way, to prepare for a new way of life.

I remember when I started on my weight-loss journey years ago and having to really mourn who I was leaving behind. I was excited, don’t get me wrong, but I knew eating whatever, whenever I wanted to was no longer a part of my life. I had to mourn that I had allowed myself to get to that point and I had to mourn that there may not be people who are willing to go along in this journey. Fast forward several years and facing a new journey of hope, the feelings that I experienced then were starting to come back again. I knew that the life that I sought after wasn’t the one that I was currently allowing my mind to accept so I had to mourn who I was leaving behind in order to fully understand the person that I was wanting to become. The person that I was going to allow God to create in me. The new pathway that my mind was going to follow, instead of the ways that I had been following in the past.

I was realizing in order for God to meet me where I was I had to acknowledge that place to begin with. Then it was about allowing the transformation to the new life that He had for me.

Second – Rebirth


“My mind came alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers
To break the dead shell of yesterdays
To risk being disturbed and changed”1

Let’s be honest, who wants to look at the dark parts of ourselves and say “ok, let’s dive in and change” but the reality is, we have to break away from the parts of us that held onto yesterday’s emotions. If we don’t allow ourselves to call it what it is and then be willing to break away from that we are doing nothing but dragging along the anchor that was weighing us down to begin with. If we are spending time dragging the anchor around we don’t have the energy or desire to put the hope within us into action and take the steps needed to find and thrive in the rebirth.

We want to be whole without work, but even Jesus had to grow in wisdom in invisible, repetitious, mundane ways to curve human nature back to God’s will2

So a challenge, because we have already acknowledged that this isn’t going to be easy, or fun….what are some things that are weighing you down? What are the barriers to the hope that is burning inside of you that keep you from taking action, from allowing the rebirth. For me, it’s two sided. I have a deep burning desire to live out the things that God has placed firmly in my heart and I have a very deep fear of being abandoned.

Now, what have those thoughts and fears done to you? For me, on one hand, I feel like the thing that God has placed on my heart to fulfill is that ship out at sea but it’s so cloudy, I know it’s there but I couldn’t tell you how close or far away it is. And on the other hand, my fear of being abandoned? It caused me to do everything for everyone in hopes that they wouldn’t forget me.

It’s scary, I get it! Because sometimes it’s extremely dark when you are standing on the proverbial shoreline and now all you can see are the flashing lights from that ship, it seems further than before, especially when the work is hard however, the risk is well worth the reward. When we truly allow ourselves to be vulnerable to God (PS He already knows your heart, He’s just waiting for us to come to Him) then it allows Him to fill the space that is empty, for Him to take root. Then, when we feel like the ship is within reach but we can’t quite reach it or the clouds come and go, He is the one who guides the tides to bring that hope a little closer to us.

Third-Excitement

I can recall, many times, the excitement that filled my mind as the hope of a new tomorrow seemed to be coming true. Like a child on Christmas morning or the day of a big race I had been training for, the adrenaline that rushed through me seemed to overtake the ability for me to see straight. It was all sunshine and rainbows and I wasn’t going to let reality strike me. The fact is, almost nothing in life is sunshine and rainbows and that’s why Hope is important. That’s why we take thoughts captive and hold them up to scripture, what we know, what God has spoken to us and what we hold onto as truth. My encouragement for you is to hold onto the excitement, press into it. Remember it on the days where that ship seems to be drifting a little further out to sea. Remember when that ship was so far away it was just a shadow on the water? Hold onto the excitement because now you can see the bow of the boat is facing north, the starboard has numbers & letters on it and the details of the wheelhouse are coming into focus. You’re almost there, don’t give up hope.

It is a journey, a long, sometimes arduous path of ups and downs, curves when you didn’t see them coming and many boulders that pop up along the way but there is an anatomy to this hope, and when we allow the opportunity to mourn who we were (or the thoughts that we had), allow a rebirth and then fill our hearts with excitement for what is happening. It becomes many parts, working together to create a remarkable story.

  1. To Bless this Space Between Us, John O’Donahue ↩︎
  2. A Theology of the ordinay, Julie Canlis ↩︎

Beautiful

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As the thunder cracked all around me, the lighting lit up the sky and the rain started falling at a swift pace I contemplated, do I wait it out or do I head home? I imagined a longer debate in my mind but surprisingly I grabbed my belongings and headed for the door. Awkwardly I ran to my car feeling the rain falling so heavy it soaked through my clothes in the 30 seconds it took me to get to shelter. Part of the issue; I am no longer a runner, I once was, triathlons actually but that is clearly not my life any more. I digress.

Soaked through my clothes, sitting in he car, almost excited to drive home in this storm I found it a bit ironic that while some, even most people may see this type of storm as scary, destructive or even inconvenient I found it beautiful and not for the reasons you may think. Beautiful because the typical “do things without thinking” type mindset had to be disrupted. Beautiful because I had to pay closer attention while driving home instead of allowing my mind to wander. Beautiful because it reminded me that thunder is actually caused by lightning, the main lightning channel to be exact, as it reaches the ground. Beautiful becuase it reminded me of the storms that literally have disrupted my own life in the past, yet, here I stand.

As each lightning bolt caught my eye it reminded me that very complex things happen inside that cloud in order to make a lightning bolt. That God himself created every facet of this beautiful part of nature. The heat and the ice inside the cloud, the exact time for the negative charge in the cloud releases and how it then reaches down from the sky to meet a positive charge coming up from the ground to form a complete lightning bolt. Then it hit me. In life we are faced with man fire and ice moments inside our minds. Moments when we feel every negative charge is too much to handle and we can’t help but release the energy. The issue comes when we realase it in an unhealthy manner. So, what is your lighting and where are you striking.

My past consisted of releasing energy by means of shopping, binge eating, shutting down or lashing out and many others. Today however, I can honestly say there is beauty in understanding my own anxiety and where to focus that energy, it’s on Jesus. When I feel my shoulders start to tense or my mind start to wander down the dark and twisty road I can refocus my thoughts by just speaking the name of Jesus; I am reminded He is with me. He is with me to walk through the thoughts that start with “what if” and anyone who has faced anxiety knows where that goes. It’s always followed by “I’m not enough” “they don’t like me/what I did” or “I failed.” I have taught myself to remember …even IF those things are true, which they rarely are, the truth I can remember is to “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7

When life starts to overwhelm me or challenges keep coming, I speak the name of Jesus and I am comforted. I will not be the person who says storms will no longer come your way just by speaking the name of Jesus. In fact, it’s been said you may experience, or at least notice them more but the absooutely beautiful (Kalos) part is that we have someone to reach out to, to relase that lighting charge out to who will be on the other end who will guide and be with us in evey moment of the storm.

Be You

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Be you

I feel, and I feel deeply.  I imagine that’s why I was so worried about going on this trip to begin with.  You see, I am a shy, introverted person who not only feels deeply but hurts deeply too.  I knew that my crazy busy life kept me from being involved in all things Facebook, GroupMe, Text, email and what have you, so the anxiety surrounding this weekend was already high enough.  The number of times that I nearly cancelled the trip easily climbed into the double digits but yet I kept moving forward.

In March when I was selected (at random) to be a part of the launch team for a book that you all know I have talked about until I am blue in the face, I never imagined that it would turn into this.  We were all invited to join other launch team members at the authors house!  To make things even crazier I ended up getting invited to stay in the planning house (although I think I did more praying over things than planning) with 19 other women from all over the country.  If you know me, you know that’s an almost paralyzing situation for me to be in.

Thursday morning came, 3am to be exact and I made the trek from Washington state to Austin, TX.  Finally getting to the house and walking in the door quietly saying “hello?” were words and actions that took far more effort than I ever expected it to. 2 precious ladies were already there and so it was beginning.  I tried to be far more involved than was comfortable and throw myself into as much as possible. You see, I am one who will want to be involved but it’s just not one of my strengths so when I am not, it results in continuing to hide deeper inside of myself.

Throughout the weekend conversations I found myself sitting along the sideline just listening and watching.  I realize that I put myself there but the beautiful result was, I was just able to sit and watch The Lord move through the weekend.  Tiny prayers that I whispered quietly to God like “please send someone to room with me” turned into being given the precious gifts of 2 amazing women.  One evening as I was amongst over 200 women but found myself walking across the yard alone I spoke a prayer in my heart “God I really don’t want to eat alone” and within seconds a friend walks up and says “I was just praying that God would give me a dinner buddy”  Answered prayer.

Over these 3 days I listened to stories, tears, prayers, hopes and dreams.  I sat along the side of the room, watching & listening.  At times I felt very alone but what happened at the end of the weekend made be finally comfortable being me.

With every story that was told, while I rarely said anything, every word that was spoken sank into my heart.  I recall countless times thinking to myself “you’re not even making a contribution”.  I had moment after moment where I thought “what am I doing here” but it was on my way to the airport on Sunday morning that it hit me.

It wasn’t about me being there so that I could be in the middle of the conversations, heck I missed SO many I don’t even know half the inside jokes and stories that were told but I was just me and perhaps that was totally why I was there.  I may not have been in more than 5 or 6 photos from the entire weekend.  Most people may never know I was there but I had a purpose.  For the 1 hour drive to the airport that morning I prayed over every single woman in that house and recalled story after story that they shared about their lives.  There was a peace that came over me.

We all have something to contribute.  No matter how large or how small.  We just need to be us.  If I would have gone into that weekend trying to be someone that I wasn’t then maybe I wouldn’t have been in the situation to take all these precious prayers before the Lord.  I think society tries to make us feel like we have to “fit in” or “be like everyone else.”  As one of my dearest friends likes to remind me.  STOP IT!  So I say – Be you!

I don’t know what the future holds for me and each of those women but I know that they have all impacted me in a way that I never saw coming.  I know that I can just be me.  Quiet, sit in the corner, on the bottom step, chin on my knees me.  I can carry the burdens of others deep in my soul and lift their wants and needs up to God in prayer and yet never speak a word.  I love them dearly.

Please never stop being you.  The moment that we stop being who we are created to be the world wins and we rob others and ourselves the joy that comes with being comfortable in our own skin.  Be You.

When I just wanted to quit

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When I wanted to quit

It was a beautiful morning ride and I was on a mission.  My first triathlon (sprint distance) was only 4 short weeks away and I knew that I had a lot of work left to do to be ready-ish.  My life is crazy busy and I, in no way, would say that I am in shape but it was once written about me that I am not easily deterred and that was truth.

I realized quickly that I was going to be riding into the wind once I turned around to head back, and we all know how that goes.  (If you don’t know what I am talking about see previous post here)  I wasn’t looking forward to it but I knew at least that I would be on my way back, not just starting out.  A few short moments later something rather minor happened that made my mind go a little wonky.  My heart fluttered, skipped a beat… whatever you want to call it.  Now before we get all excited (and by excited I mean concerned) about this please trust that I am monitoring this carefully.  However, for the first time ever I was terrified for some reason that I wasn’t going to make it back.  I just wanted to quit.

What happened in my mind in that moment left me having no interest in completing this ride.  I wanted out, I wanted off the bike and just wanted to crawl back into bed.  However, I knew that wasn’t an option in this moment,  so I had to keep going.  Remembering that I was in the middle of this blogging series I figured I could use this experience to think about that rather than what just happened.

How often in our lives do we come across something, no matter how large or small and something clicks in our minds and we are just done.  Timed out, ready to throw in the towel, quit.

Friends, when times get tough or if you are anything like me, I get stuck inside my own head so much that sometimes I can’t see reality… that it just might be easier to quit.

What would happen if we all just quit when things got tough, when our minds get the best of us or when the world tells us that we can’t do something??  Think back in your own life of the things that you almost gave up on, but didn’t.  What were they?

For me, well the list is lengthy but I can start with being called to a church plant, becoming GM of a hotel at 24 and I can’t wait to add “completing a triathlon sprint” to that list.

The worst part about quitting is having to start over.  There is a reason that we take on the things that we do in life.  Sometimes we may never be meant to complete it but I like to try and leave those decisions up to God.  He knows.  He already has the plans in place, it’s just our responsibility to not be easily deterred and keep going.

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10

It is well…

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As mentioned in my previous blog post I have had to say goodbye to many people over the last few weeks.  One of them is my friend Rachel. You can check out her blog at Notes from my corner of creation.

Her words have touched my heart over the years and she is one of the reasons that I re-started my own blog.  I asked her to guest blog for me today as her family is about to move cross country where God has called them to a new adventure. I just want to say one thing.  No matter how old or young you are never think you have no influence on others. You never know what life you might be able to change.

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It is Well…  The Song “It is Well with My Soul” is one of my all time favorite songs. The words are so powerful and extremely catchy.

“When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say it is well with my soul.”

As obsessed as I am with this song, sometimes I hate the lyrics.

“Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say” what? It is well with my soul! Honestly, there are days when I don’t want to say it is well. There are days when singing praise is the very last thing I want to do. There are those days where I’m just like, it is not well.

The sea billows are so strong sometimes. They blow sand and other hard substances and that hurts!

But when peace like a river is attending my way, it’s much easier to sing praise. I don’t mind singing praise when it’s easy.

Singing praise in the hard times? I don’t really like to say “It is well.” I would rather say, “Pass the Nutella, don’t judge how loud my music is and leave me alone.”

It is well?

As we sang this in worship a couple weeks ago at church, I remember thinking in mortification the words I was singing and how well they lined up with my life.

I am the last person on the face of the earth who should be singing about how it’s well with my soul.

As I was pondering this and mouthing along with the words, I realised that there is a reason it can be well with our souls.

God’s going to be sovereign over all the storms.

Those days when you feel like you are being lead through the valley of the shadow of death, we can truly fear no evil, because our God is with us leading and guiding us.

We have to fix our eyes upon him and instead of being overwhelmed by the craziness of this world, become overwhelmed by the King of Glory. We have to be overwhelmed by God and all his goodness and learn to abide and trust that he is sovereign even in the wildest tempest.

He’s going before you clearing the way with his righteousness. He is moving in ways beyond what we can imagine. He is preparing hearts and minds– even in the storms of life.

That is why we can sing praise in the hard times.

That is why it can be well with our souls.

“And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul…”   -Horatio Spafford

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~Rachel Joy