Source for photo: pinterest
The pen met the paper over the weekend. Pressed ink spilled forth onto crisp white spaces.
The pages turned in my life whether I wanted them to or not.
If I could have scripted what I wanted life to look like right now- this wouldn't be it.
Those are hard words- but true nonetheless.
And even though I am thankful and I am grateful. Even though I am learning a new level of trust and even though my faith is being tested....
This isn't the way that I wanted my prayers to be answered.....
This isn't what I would have scripted.
I have often felt that I've paid my dues- so to speak- in life.
Often felt that the pieces that string together like pearls to create my testimony- have been more than my fair share.
We can all feel that way at times.
When life becomes something we need to survive instead of embrace.
When life is hard. When life is unfair. When life threatens to overtake us and rob us and suffocate the very breath out of us. When mornings are unbearable and the nighttimes are so long we believe that they will never end.
We want to wish away the suffering.
But the suffering - the unbelievably hard things...can sometimes be the Father at work in our lives.
Even if we've already survived a lifetime of suffering before.
Even if we've already had "our fair share" of unfair things happen.
Still.
There can be more.
Even though God is good and He is for us and not against us and even though He has a plan and a hope and future for our lives. And even though He loves us with an everlasting love and He has us in the palm of His hand. And even though He will never leave us nor forsake us....
Still.
There can be more.
We can walk through the unfathomable.
And we can shake our heads no and we can run and hide and cry ourselves to sleep every single night, but the suffering- can still show up.
The pressing and the crushing. The weeding out and the tearing down.
These are the order of events that make the good things- so good- once they finally arrive.
These are the things that bring us to our knees with gratitude once we manage to survive them all.
These are the things that make good movies so good and cause us to read the same books over and over again.
The suffering. The pressing. The crushing.
The things we've had to overcome.
There can be beauty in scripted suffering. In all that He may allow in our lives.
There can be beauty in the overcoming and the breaking forth....
The scripted pieces by the only One who knows the ending.
He knows every chapter and every story line and every character.
He says that He will work everything together for our good and His glory.
Sometimes I have asked....
Even this Lord?
But whatever this is that we can fit inside the frame of that four letter word....
Whatever would fill that space.
Death. Divorce. Abandonment. Rejection. Loss. Grief. Delay. Despair. Cancer. Miscarriage...
Even those things.
The things we would never script for our own life...
The Father may use for the pressing.
Even if we've had a lifetime of pressing before.
Because after the pressing comes the oil....
The anointing. The character shaping. The heart softening. The humility. The ear to hear anothers' heartache. The learned art of listening and doing. The servitude. The ministry. The breaking forth.
The oil only comes one way.
We must be pressed.
So if this is you today....
I want to encourage you.
Even if you are walking through the unimaginable. The unthinkable. The unfair things.
Even if every, single person in your life has turned their back. Even if He walked out the door after twenty five years of marriage. Even if you've lost every, single thing you own. Even if you think it's over. Even if you think this is going to be the end of you. Even if you are walking through things you can't even share because no one will understand. Even if you don't think you will ever get married or ever have a child of your very own. Even if the Doctors have told you there is nothing else they can do. Even if you have lost your job. And lost your home. And lost your belongings. Even if you have been told you have a horrible disease. Even if your marriage is slipping away. And your faith. And your hope. And you are not even sure how you will survive today....
God loves you.
He adores you.
He is hovering over you and your circumstances- even now.
He is for you and not against you.
He has a plan and a purpose and a hope and a future for you.
He has called you by name.
He is there with you now- even if you fully believe there is absolutely no way that He is.
He is well able to heal you. Your family. Your marriage. Your finances.
He is a restorer.
He is a life giver.
He loves you with an everlasting love.
He is a God who can resurrect every, single thing in your life that looks like it is over.
He wants you to trust Him. Talk with Him. Seek Him. Ask Him. Love Him even when things do not make any sense. Even when things are unfair. Even when things are so painful it hurts to breathe...
He knows. He sees. He is working. He is faithful. He is orchestrating details right now on your behalf.
And soon sweet friend. The pressing will stop. And the page will turn.
And the oil ......will flow like rivers of living water in your life and mine.
Trust the author even when the script hurts.....
