She Reads Truth: Songs of AscentSample

It’s easy to thank God when everything is peachy keen. The sun is shining. I’m having a wonderful hair day. My kiddos are playing together in perfect harmony. My husband willingly turned on Downton Abbey and just passed me the last chocolate chip cookie. Thank you, Lord! But there have been times in my life when I have felt cursed. Jobs were lost. Loved ones suffered terminal illnesses. Relationships ended. Gossip spread. Life happened - sometimes all at once. I didn’t blame God in these trials, but I certainly didn’t thank Him either. I pulled up my bootstraps. Put on a brave face. Relied on myself. Suffered alone. And let my grief completely overwhelm me until I “despaired even of life itself.” (2 Corinthians 1:8, NIV) As Paul writes, though I was very much alive, I was living out a death sentence, of my spirit at the very least. Until. Until like Paul, I was forced to trust God totally. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since He’s the God who raises the dead! (2 Corinthians 9-10, MSG) And it turns out walking through these hard seasons is often the best thing could ever happen. Because it is there that we find Him. It is there that we learn that the strength of our bootstraps will fail, but the joy of the Lord won’t. It is there that we learn that we don’t need to put on a brave face, we simply need to seek His. And ultimately, it is there that we learn that He knows our suffering, because He suffered too. For me. For you. Maybe you and I will never be to the point in our faith walk where we’re able to say, “Okay, Lord, troubles and trials? Bring ‘em on!” But we can pray for each other to get to a point where we trust that we’re just seeing a few brushstrokes on the gigantic masterpiece He’s painting. Where we don’t fear what’s ahead, because we know it’s already happened in the eyes of our Master Planner. Where we acknowledge that He shares in our sufferings, but He also shares in our comfort. Where we can remember that He’s rescued us before and that He’ll do it again…as many times as we need rescuing. (2 Corinthians 9-10, MSG) And for that we can say thank you, even when nothing seems peachy keen. Because there is no pit we’re in that is deeper than His love. Let’s give thanks that He is on our side. Today and every day.