Wrestling with God…

I couldn’t understand what was happening.
None of it made sense.
It doesn’t happen this way.

Yet there I was, in less than six months my ability to conceive was stripped from me.
My tubes ruptured my womb empty, my heart grieving, my babies lost.

I had so many questions that didn’t have answers, at least not on this side of eternity.
I had to choose. I had to decide if I would cling to God despite the fact that He could have intervened, that He could have made my babies implant in the right place, He could have kept my tubes from rupturing. I had to choose to believe that either God was good and faithful all the time or He was bad and unfaithful.

So I chose. I chose to cling to my omnipotent, amazingly loving God. Oh, but I didn’t only cling. I wrestled. I brought to God my questions, my pain, my barren body. I asked why. I wrestled over how unfair it was that children were given to mothers and fathers who didn’t care or wouldn’t care or would abuse them. I wrestled with Him over whether fertility treatments were right for our family or not. I clung to Him as I begged for a miracle in my body.

In the wrestling, in the clinging I discovered something. When I wrestled with Him, I was close enough to hear Him speak. He spoke words of comfort, He spoke words of direction, He spoke words of healing. That healing often involved painful cleansings and death to myself, my desires, my way. Oh, but God is bigger than my doubts, bigger than my questions, bigger than my inability to conceive naturally. In the wrestling I grew closer to Him. In the wrestling God blessed me. In the wrestling I have been forever changed.

Are you facing a difficult time in your life? Have you decided to cling to God? If not what are you waiting for?

Are you wrestling with God? As you wrestle are you listening to Him? What is He telling you?

Consider reading Daniel 3:16-18 (Shadrach Meshach and Abednego had to choose whether to cling to God or not. Read their choice).

Then read Genesis 32:22-32 (Jacob wrestles with God and clings to Him until God blesses Him, but he walks away changed forever).

How do these passages shape your ideas of clinging to God and wrestling with Him?

I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Rethinking Rejoicing…

Well, I finally figured out my YouTube issue I had yesterday. So now you can see my vlog! Woo Hoo!

Also I want to thank Julie Gillies for the tweet that inspired this vlog!

Can’t wait to hear what you think! Jump in and share!

Joy and Grief Mingle, at Least Here

I long for the day when grief no longer taints joy.

Our most joyful days on earth are tainted. Pain, fear, grief mingle and mix with our joy.

Day I accepted Jesus as my Savior…Joy of forgiveness of sins, pure love from heaven washed the fear of hell away. Yet knowing some would still choose hell over grace and mercy caused grief.

Graduating High School…The joy of accomplishment, the fear of what is next, the grief of friends lost during the journey.

Wedding Day…Joy, excitement, my man, my soul-mate, my life-partner mix with the sadness of leaving my family to cleave to my husband. The joy of making our own way entangled with the fear of leaving all I have known.

Birth of children…Incredible joy, love, and excitement. Mixed with PAIN in the process, fear of failure, and for some grief due to illness or tragedy.

Is the grief, pain, and fear in the joy a reminder for us? Is it God’s loving way to remind us Earth is not our home?

It points to what is not, but what “should be.” Does the pointing mean there is more? Does it mean that at some point the “should be” is what will be?

I believe that the answer is yes. I long and wait in fear and joyful expectation for that day. That DAY when:

“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Oh that I would allow those painful, fearful, grieving, joyful moments to turn my heart and mind to His return. That I would wait in hopeful expectation of that day –
when joy and grief no longer cling;
when tears, mourning, death, and pain are no more.

Oh what a day that will be!