So on to the blog post that y'all have been waiting for... XP
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Life is so hard sometimes. We can become so easily consumed with our own darkness, it is hard to see any light coming through. As a result of the Fall, pain is a part of everyone's experience. Some feel pain in different ways or various quantities than others, and it is hard to empathize fully with someone else's experience. Just because we may not be able to relate with someone else's pain, though, doesn't make it any less real for them. I think that a lot of times, (and I say this from personal experience), we tend to judge how other people are struggling with their challenges and we have a difficult time understanding from their perspective. We have to remember, though, that just like our own pain is a real experience for us, someone else's pain is just as valid as ours, even if we cannot understand from their point of view.
A lot of times, life makes no sense to us. And you know what I've had to realize? That's okay. We don't need to understand everything. We only need to trust the One who does. I tend to become so bogged down with my own whirlwind of struggles that I refuse to look up and realize that in the bigger picture, God's holding all of this in His hands. The truth is, as much as it is near impossible for us in our fallible flesh to comprehend, the same God who sovereignly ordained all of history has also chosen to put us through our respective fiery trials. We are being refined and taught by the One that knows best for us, and He has promised in His Word that He will work everything out for our good (Rom. 8:28)...and His glory. He never leaves us, even in our darkest moments. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." (Isaiah 43:2)
It's hard to believe that in our darkest moments, when we feel the most unlovable, God loves us anyways. Yet, the very message of the Gospel is that REGARDLESS of what we do or how we feel, Jesus' work on the cross bought and sealed our salvation for good. What more evidence do we need of His unconditional love for us than to look at the cross and realize that He died to save us when we were still in our sins; still in our darkness; when we were the ones who condemned Him to death. If He died for us when we were still in our darkest sin, why would He not in the same way love us and want our good even now? Sometimes, we need to be broken and emptied of ourselves before we can be filled and healed by God.
If we walk through our trials and struggles relying on God's joy as our strength, our testimony will bring glory to Him. Even in the darkness of our lives, God is still worthy of our praise. Even if we ONLY have our salvation, we have so much to be thankful for, and that realization will lead us to praise, which will lead to true joy. God's ways are not our ways, and we don't have to understand everything He does to know that He is perfectly righteous in it all.
Life is rough. It's hard. It's painful. We're all beaten, battered, and bruised. The challenge for all of us is to leave the pieces of our broken hearts in the palms of the God who is able to mend anything. Even if he doesn't take away the pain, when we learn to commit to trusting Him with our whole hearts--even when it doesn't makes sense--He can bring light and beauty to the brokenness. Sometimes all we need is a change of perspective.
