Joy Comes in the Morning – Day 2

We have a Helper

“This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself is the very place in which God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering, gentleness, meekness – in short, to learn the depths of the love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us.” -Elisabeth Elliott

Scripture for today:  Psalm 3:3, Psalm 34:18, Matthew 11:28-30, and Romans 8:18-39

The very day I am writing to you is the day I need to pay most attention to these words. As many of you know, God has impeccable timing. I have been working very, very hard on something I wanted so badly. Everything about it was perfect, how could it not be? Today, it all fell apart. I read through our day 2 and felt like I was going through a checklist.

Broken-hearted and Crushed? Check.

Weary and Burdened? Check.

You’ll hear a lot of answers from people in these situations, most of which don’t help at all. Even our well-meaning Christian friends will tell you it’s all part of God’s plan, or there’s something better out there for you.

But is there?

The short answer is yes. I can tell you this from a broken place because I’ve been here before and I’ve come out on top. But I don’t want to be another Christian friend going “bless your heart.” Instead, I want to give you some words of encouragement for some of the things you might be feeling. I don’t know what God’s plan is and I don’t know if we’ll ever get an answer for our struggles, but I can tell you that He can do more than we could ever ask for or imagine and that all things work together for the good of those that love the Lord.

I messed up. I didn’t do my part/ I did something wrong.

If you ever feel this way, please take heart in knowing that you are not powerful enough to ruin God’s plan. He is in control always. Your mistakes will not alter His timeline.

Does God even care? Why is He hurting me?

I always felt like when I was broken and sorrowful, God was up in the clouds patting me on the head going “It’s all in my plan” which is not always so comforting. How could something like this be part of his plan? Nikki Dutton (guest speaker at Revive Girls 2018) gave me a different perspective. Did you ever consider that our all powerful, omnipotent, and loving Father is broken with us? That He weeps when we weep? We are His children! Just as Earthly parents must let their children learn the hard way, so God does for us.

Why must we hurt to learn? What’s the point?

As I mentioned, we don’t always get an answer for our pain. But this little quote from Thomas Brooks helps me put it into perspective:

Their mourning shall last but till morning. God will turn their winter’s night into a summer’s day, their sighing into singing, their grief into gladness, their mourning into music, their bitter into sweet, their wilderness into a paradise. The life of a Christian is filled up with interchanges of sickness and health, weakness and strength, want and wealth, disgrace and honour, crosses, and comforts, miseries and mercies, joys and sorrows, mirth and mourning; all honey would harm us, all wormwood would undo us; a composition of both is the best way in the world to keep our souls in a healthy constitution. It is best and most for the health of the soul that the south wind of mercy, and the north wind of adversity, do both blow upon it; and though every wind that blows shall blow good to the saints, yet certainly their sins die most, and their graces thrive best, when they are under the drying, nipping north wind of calamity, as well as under the warm, cherishing south wind of mercy and prosperity.

I hope you find some peace in the verses from today and comfort in knowing you are safe behind His shield. We can give Him our burdens and rest easy in His arms.

Prayers and best wishes,

Harlie