Have you ever felt alone and like no one understands you? Have you ever felt like being ‘real’ is impossible? Have you ever looked at your circumstances, wanted to cry out in despair, and thought, ‘maybe if I were super spiritual, I wouldn’t feel this way…?'
Let’s face it - Life can be messed up.
I recently went (and am currently going) through my own storm. I remember thinking, this isn’t supposed to be my life – I wasn’t planning to ever go through this much gut-wrenching pain, heartache, and suffering. Struggles are supposed to happen to other people, not to me…
I wonder if anyone has ever come up to you during a time of suffering and said something like this, "God is good” or ”He won’t give You more than you can handle” or maybe “in the book of James it says to consider it pure joy” or perhaps worst of all, “why is it taking you so long to get over this?...”
If we’re honest, such phrases can make us angry; they can make us feel betrayed; they can even make us shut down as we’re reminded again that being honest isn’t always the path to being understood… We feel let down and rejected. And maybe, just maybe, we are tempted to scream in anger and slap our ‘well intentioned’ friend up-side the head.
Okay, so let’s pause for a second…
Assuming you’ve made the decision to follow Jesus, and assuming you accept His Word as truth, we do know some things to be fact:
God is good. As followers of Christ, He is ALWAYS with us. God has the perfect plan for our lives, and His will is ALWAYS better than our own. God is perfectly faithful – He will never let us down. God loves us and wants to have an intimate relationship with each of His children. God deserves glory, honor, and praise no matter what our circumstances may look like.
I, too, believed every single one of these truths about our Savior (I really did!), but…the pain didn’t go anywhere, my storm still raged.
If you’re going through your own storm, I want you to know that it’s okay to feel angry. It’s okay to not understand. It’s okay to wonder why God is allowing such heartache. It’s okay to sit and cry and have no answers. It’s okay to wonder if life will ever be okay again. It’s okay.
There are people in the Bible that also felt this way too! If you aren’t familiar with the book of Job, look him up. If anyone had a reason to throw their hands up in absolute despair, it was Job – He lost almost EVERYTHING. He loved God, but he didn’t even attempt to put on a front… And David! The Psalms are just FULL of David’s honest pleas and frustrations, and God called David “a man after my own heart.” WHATTT?? But David was emotional and felt lost a lot of the time and was all over the place with how he felt! But…he loved God. He didn’t hold back, he invited God into his mess, he let God into his storms.
So, what do we do when that storm hits?
I could come up with a 5-step plan that would probably be decently helpful (ie. Reading the Bible, finding a godly mentor, being active in a biblical church, etc. ALL IMPORTANT).
Still, those "steps" seem to fall short. So what do? Where do we go? In one word, JESUS.
Jesus.
Cry, scream, be silent, talk, listen, ask questions, all while falling at His feet. Be REAL with JESUS.
I’m not saying there aren’t other important and very helpful steps, but FIRST…before anything else, SIMPLY JESUS.
Invite Him into Your storm, show Him your mess, throw your hands up, and just be held by JESUS.
Maybe that’s blasting a song by Lauren Daigle and sobbing in your bedroom. Maybe it’s taking a long walk in the forest. Maybe it’s working out at the gym.
What I’m getting at is this: Invite Jesus into the details of your life. Talk, cry, scream…just lean into Him!! Will the storm go away instantly? Oftentimes, no, it won’t…but You’ll have a lifeline, an anchor, a mind-blowing and intimate relationship with your BEST FRIEND.
Jesus. Check out Romans 8:26-28 (When we have NO words, God’s got us!! What a comforting and incredible truth!)
I want to leave you with this verse:
Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
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