2020 Was the Best Year Ever!Sample

Suffering and Loss

I had a raw and transparent moment with my Heavenly Father the other day. The chaos all around me sometimes can cause me to catastrophize about the future. 

There are things in my life that I love and if they were lost, I would be sad but it wouldn’t wreck my world. I know the Lord is in control. Would it be fun to be foreclosed on? Would I be “hip-hip-hooraying” if suddenly my children come home with new knowledge that I never intended them to be processing at this point in their life? Would it be awesome to go without food?? Well, obviously the answer to all of these questions is a resounding no. But I believe in my heart of hearts, we could and would get through them together as a family.

However, I knew as I prayed over our nation for months with other like minded women from across the country almost every night, there was one part of my life I was shoving under the rug in my heart and pretended the Lord couldn’t see it--as if not mentioning it would keep it from happening. But the Lord gently pulled the rug out from underneath my praying knees and I was face to face with my fear--Okay God, I don’t think I would survive if…if... something happened to my children… The last word toppled off my tongue and onto the tears that suddenly flowed from my eyes. 

God is a good God. He is our Heavenly Father. He welcomes our vulnerable moments and allows us to be honest with our thoughts. That is one of my favorite things about Him.

As I revealed my deepest fears, Hebrews 13:5 kept ricocheting in my brain. I finally landed onto these words that many Christians have clung to throughout history: I will never leave you nor forsake you. 

Okay Lord, see, right there. There it is. You’ll never leave us or forsake us--as if these words guaranteed the safety of my children. But as I reflected on this promise, the Lord gently planted an image of Stephen being stoned in my mind. I let the image play out and I saw Stephen overtaken with joy when He looked into the heavens and saw His Heavenly Father as the crowd around him were filled with rage and hatred. And in that moment, the verse took on a whole new meaning. He never left Stephen. God doesn’t promise us a life free of suffering--in fact it’s quite the opposite. But what He does promise is that even when the wickedness of this world busts through the doors of our lives and brings with it all forms of sin and ungodliness and perversion, He is right there holding our hand and giving us the strength we need to get through it. Hebrews 13:5 isn’t a get out of jail free card. But, we can walk confidently through this life knowing one-hundred percent that our good and gracious and loving and kind Heavenly Father will absolutely never ever leave us or forsake us. 

Only the presence of the Father would make it possible for Stephen to pray, Lord, do not hold this sin against them, the very people who were throwing rocks and killing him. You know who was also with him as well? Saul, who later becomes the great apostle Paul. He saw what was happening and Stephen’s response, and as He always does, the Lord took what the enemy meant for evil and turned it for good. I wonder what He may be using in your life to change the world as He never leaves you or forsakes you?