Tuesday, January 23, 2018

The Secret Place in the midst of Disapointments and Aches

 
 
 
 
We have had a wild schedule lately. Out of State for a solid three weeks. Finally home for a few days and I'm enjoying sleeping on my own pillow. So, this morning after making the kid's favorite, pancakes, I was listening to some music while I was loading the dishwasher.
 
 
 
As I listened to a song, I teared up. It was a song I had heard on the radio for years and one my cousin, Crosby, has sung for a while. But, the words just kind of settled with me. Do you know what I mean? When you hear the words to a song, and you think "I could have written that..."
 
 
 
 
I found peace as I listened to these words.
 
 
 
 
 
We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not,
This is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I felt like each line connected to somewhere deep in my soul. In places where even my tried and true friendships wouldn't know of. They sank down and I felt the words. Really felt them. I looked back on my life in the few minutes the song played and I realized I have had a lot of disappointments and aching. Whether you are reading this and you're my tried and true friend, or someone on the other side of the planet... we can relate in that area. You have disappointments. You have aching.
 
 
 
 
Maybe you had hopes and dreams of becoming something certain, and those plans fell through the cracks.
 
 
Your engagement to your high school sweetheart was stopped weeks before the wedding.
 
 
 
Your child was diagnosed with a minor or major illness.
 
 
 
You had to bury your spouse.
 
 
 
You found out your spouse was living a double life.
 
 
 
Your child made some pretty bad choices.
 
 
 
Your friend betrayed you.
 
 
 
Your family rejected you once you became a Christian.
 
 
 
Your health is failing.
 
 
 
You had to experience a miscarriage. Or multiple.
 
 
 
You found out you couldn't have "your own children."
 
 
 
Your boss let you go. No reason.
 
 
 
Your closest friends chose comfort rather than defending you.
 
 
 
 
Your dream home was built. Then, you had to sell it because you were in way over your head.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Disappointments
 
 
 
 
Aching
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Why do they happen? I've heard that question more than once. Why do bad things happen to good people? Maybe you've never asked those exact words, but there's a good chance you have asked it in a different form. I know I have. God, why has this had to happen??
 
 
 ----------------
 My writing was interrupted because I got a call from a dear friend who just left a sonogram and they weren't able to find the heartbeat of their sweet little child. I cried and prayed with her. That is an ache. God, comfort my friend...
----------------
 
 
 
 
 
A few years ago I felt betrayal from someone near to me. I asked God why He let this happen.
He showed me that EVERY SINGLE human alive that I will EVER come in contact with, will
let me down. And not only that, I will let THEM down. I think often times we play the victim card when in fact, we are not the victim at all. You think its your parents fault, your siblings fault, your spouses fault, your friends fault, your aunts fault, your uncles fault, your cousins fault, your kids fault, your pastors fault, your best friends' fault...
 
 

Sometimes, it is their fault, but I like to check out my own motives and actions first! I will answer to God for how I treated them. It says in the Bible that if we don't forgive others, God can't forgive us!
I think the hardest person to forgive is the one who doesn't say sorry own up to their wrong.



But...do you know how my relationship started with the Lord?


I said I was sorry.


And He forgave me.


 
 What if that is all that needs to happen with your spouse? What if you need to say you're sorry.


What if you need to tell your kid you're sorry for their childhood.


Tell your friend you're sorry you went MIA during a time they really needed you.


Tell your Pastor you're sorry for not respecting him and his family.


Tell your family member you're sorry you have pushed them away all these years. Own up to it. Be a man or woman. God will bless you for that.


Tell you're child you're sorry you yelled at them.


Tell your spouse you're sorry you haven't been the spiritual leader that God created you to be as the man of the house.


Tell your spouse you're sorry you haven't been a help meet, but rather a hinder meet.



Tell your boss you're sorry you were never on time and never did your job correctly.



Tell that old friend you're sorry for making them feel bad about their appearance.


Tell your doctor you are sorry that you got so upset with him when he told you the bad news.


Tell that person you've held a grudge against that you are sorry.


Go ahead, call them. It will change your life. Just those two words.






I'm sorry.









Tell God you are sorry.






 
 What if all those disappointments and aches are for a reason? I believe they are. I believe at the end of the day, if you are a Child of God, he will turn what Satan and even other people meant for evil and bad and turmoil in your life- God will turn it into good. It may not look that way right now, but He will. You have freewill though, and with that freewill, you have your own choices to make.








You have a choice to say you're sorry.


You have a choice to forgive someone even if they won't say they are sorry.


You have a choice to live in that Secret Place from Psalms 91 day and night.


Sheltered from the storms. Sheltered from the wind. Sheltered from the bullets.


You will be okay. You will. That is something I was told and something I will always tell others.








It'll be okay. You will be okay.






Trust God with your disappointments and aches. He will reveal to you that He is the answer and the refuge You long for.












Place your happiness and worth in Him, not situations, not people, but in the One Who died for you.



The One who meets you in the middle of the night.

The One who wipes your tears.


The One who loves you win you are on the top, and when you're on the bottom.






Find Him in that Secret Place today.


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