Are you at a messy place right now and your mind wonders if God really does redeem our stories? Not just when we enter our heavenly home but here and now, this side of heaven?
Maybe you have found yourself on a detour that you never saw coming. Maybe this very moment you are facing some unwanted, ugly, painful and unintended parts of your story that have left you wailing on the carpet desperate for God’s intervention.
Friend, can I encourage you to pause for a moment? Please. Hit the hold button. Take a break from your tears, your questions, your doubts and simply let these words take a hold of your heart.
Our. God. Is. Faithful. Always.
Even now! Yes, even in THIS season, THIS heartbreak, THIS loss, THIS pain.
How can I proclaim this so boldly and confidently? Because I have walked through unwanted chapters in my own life and am now reaping the beauty that God brings as the pages turn.
I am cheering YOU forward. You are not alone!
God has not only redeemed my story but abundantly given me more than I could ask or imagine. Did I say it’s been easy? NO! Did I say the struggles are gone? Absolutely NOT! What I AM saying is that God has brought beauty from the ashes and the brokenness that this messy girl had lived with for so long.
I don’t say this out of pride or arrogance or with a “look at me now” mentality….I am sharing this to give YOU a shot of hope. Because not so long ago, I was on the carpet completely shattered and struggling, just like YOU!
Broken, wounded, stressed to the hilt, and ever so desperate. It wasn’t just one hard thing but many painful things that left me with uncontrollable eye twitches and itchy stress rashes. Yes, there is such a thing, ugh!
I will not go into details. After all, I know what you would do. You would do the the same thing that most of us do. Your kneejerk reaction would entice you to compare your story to mine and then you would miss the whole point.
What I can tell you is that the above picture represents so much more than a wedding day…but a rescue; A day when God boldly declared to my heart that He is well able to redeem and take what the enemy meant to destroy me and my family and make it into something more precious than I could have ever imagined.
It represents the answer to countless prayers prayed by many that I did not even know were praying for me and my family at the time. You see, it wasn’t just my victory in Jesus but other’s victory and testimony, too! Those who God divinely surrounded us with who stood in the gap. Those who loved me, supported me, believed in me and more importantly those with faith-filled hearts who believed that God had GOOD plans for us in spite of how it looked then. My heart is so thankful.
This is why I am here, to tell YOU that GOD is not finished with YOUR story!
God DOES redeem, my friend! He takes the messy, the ugly, and the broken parts of our stories and creates beauty from the all the ashes.
Remember this; whatever chapter you are in, whatever your life looks like this very moment will soon pass. It is only for a season. Life will not always be this hard, nor this painful.
You are on the pathway, detours and all, to greater joy and intimacy with Christ than you have ever known.
It’s okay if you can’t see that right now because God sees it! His plans for YOU are good! When you can’t see clearly and everything around you is falling apart remember, your God IS faithful. That is ALL you need to know. That’s enough. Jesus is enough.
Stay on the carpet until your knees burn and ugly cry your way through but don’t EVER stop the wrestling.
With God, your waiting time is NOT wasted time…He is creating room in you for the beauty that is yet to come!
Friend, stubbornly hold on to your faith as you hold on to your God. Follow hard after him…stay obedient no matter what your feelings tell you. Expect God to move!
One day, you will see clearly that He never left you even in your darkest moments. He was cutting away the lies from the past to make room for a NEW season, a NEW beginning that could not compare to anything you have experienced before.
Believe it!
Hebrews 10:23 (ESV) “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful”.
Blessed is She 