Jesus didn't try to hide the truth from His disciples when He said,
"In this world you will have troubles."
One common thread throughout history is that life has never been perfectly free from difficult moments for any generation.
I've questioned God many times in life, wondering why the Perfect Creator could not create a perfect planet.
Every time I reach these points of questioning, though, I end up right back where I started,
realizing that His purpose in creating us and this universe was not to display any kind of perfectness outside of Himself.
His purpose was to create a people who would long to be in fellowship with Him.
As someone who has had times of comfort and ease in my life and times of trials and heartache,
I can say without hesitation that I am closest to God when I need Him most.
God longs to be our comfort, our Hope, our strength.
He longs to teach us through our sorrow just how much He loves us,
and
grow deep inside us a longing for and great expectation of
all that is to come in eternity when PERFECTION comes to take us all Home.
I believe that in our darkest moments God does His greatest works.
Physical healings to the world are reasons to say, "It's a miracle!"
In God's eyes, however, Heaven brings the perfect miracle as well as the perfect opportunity for Him to perform earthly miracles in our hearts.
My smile today as a mom who grieves the loss of two children is a miracle.
My Hope is a miracle.
My faith is a miracle.
My laugh is a miracle.
My ability to say to all of you who are brokenhearted,
"You can make it if you lean on Him whose heart broke most deeply as He watched His Son die in order to conquer death for you and me,"
is a miracle.
Jesus rising from the dead is a miracle!
When I read these verses in II Corinthians 1:3-4,
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.
He comfort us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.
When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us,
I begin to understand exactly what a miracle is.
A miracle is a God who can create an imperfect world full of imperfect people facing difficult moments
yet place deep inside each of us a longing for
eternity
and
a Hope that can rise out of our pain.
Not just enough Hope to survive,
but a Hope that endures and brings so much comfort that eventually, even in spite of our brokenness, we somehow become vessels of comfort to others who are hurting.
How does God do that?
How does God take broken, hurting people and transform them into encouragers and comfort givers?
I DO NOT KNOW.
But, I do know this,
IT'S A MIRACLE!
So, today, if your earthly miracles haven't happened and you find yourself with empty arms,
I write to say this,
"The miracle is coming. The miracle is on its way."
Lean on Him today and tomorrow and the next day in your heartache.
Trust in Him today and tomorrow and the next day in your sadness and pain.
Turn to the Comforter today and tomorrow and the next day, and don't be afraid to tell Him just how sad and confused and angry and broken you are.
One day you will wake up and find yourself bringing comfort to a friend,
and you won't even understand how it happened that you, a frail, hurting, emotionally-overwhelmed human being, could ever be the source of strength to someone else.
This, my sweet friend, is the greatest earthly miracle we get to be a part of while we are on this planet.
So, today, I challenge you even in your sadness to praise God anyway.
Tell Him how you feel, but then give Him your broken heart and let Him start His slow and steady work.
One day, our tears will be washed away.
Perfection will come.
Eternity in Heaven will be our past, present, and future.
Until then, I know we'll still have days when we feel extremely blue and confused.
We'll still cry.
Our hearts will still ache.
But because of our faith in the Father of all Comfort,
let's allow Him to be a continual miracle worker in our hearts so that others can know and experience fully how wide and deep and wonderful God's love is.
Ephesians 3:14-19,
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
3 Comments:
This was wonderful. SandyB
Tammy, what an awesome blog today!Thank you for sharing in such an honest way. Pat cliques just don't work on pain and you speak with such a raw honesty. I continue to be amazed by your words. You are such an awesome woman of God and am so thankful to know you. You don't know how many times your blogs have been just what I needed for the day. Love. Karen
Sandy and Karen,
I love you both so much.
Thank you for taking time to leave a message.
Love you!
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