"Brace for Impact!"

With a new baby, a move, the holidays and all the other changes that the end of this year is bringing, this is the post my heart needed this week. How do you brace for impact? How does scripture and prayer guide your heart during these seasons?

Have you had those days, weeks or months where every time the phone dings or your spouse comes in and says "so" you feel yourself brace for the impact? You find yourself anxious about what the news is going to be.

Perhaps there are changes that you know are coming and you wonder if today is today. Maybe you have been hit in so many ways and in so many directions, defeat seems imminent.

Can I ask you some questions about these situations? Why do we always think the storms of life are negatives? And why is it easier to give the hard moments more screen time in our life, than the joy-filled ones?

Let me chat about what I mean. In my experience it is super easy to see the change coming and assume the worst. For some reason we see the clouds forming and assume it is a tornado instead of a much needed rain fall for growth. Much like Peter we shift our focus off of Jesus and we fall. What is it inside of us that panics and decides that the same God who called us out on those waters isn't going to be the same one to protect us, while He calms the storm. Why do we let our faith stumble? I think it is natural that we faulter, but what if fought to regain focus? When that storm starts brewing, we feel the shift, we prepare. We pray, we turn to the truth of scripture, hold on to promises, recall times of God's previous faithfulness. Instead of simply bracing for impact, we turned to the one who could help us prepare and fortify our stance?

Without rain the landscape would look pretty dry and barren. Crops wouldn't grow and there would be a desperation. It is the same for us, without difficult seasons of life where we can grow and learn more about God's character and how He is forming us to be more like Him, we will become barren. We were promised that in this life we would face trials, we were also promised that our King already holds the victory.

So why do we focus more on the suffering? When people ask us how life is going why do we talk about how tired we are or vent about how awful this situation is? Now I do feel that there is a time and place for sharing those burdens and seeking counsel. But is your hardship getting more screen time than your rejoicing? Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Joy can follow sorrow. So where is the joy in your hardship? Is it in watching your kids play in the yard? Is it a sweet conversation with your husband while you get the dishes done? Is it that beautiful sunrise you feel like God painted just for you on your drive to work? God is also working things together for our good! Let's be the spokesmen for that goodness. Yes, hard times come and the are painful, make us cry, break our hearts and we feel shattered.

How did God mend those shattered pieces that you brought Him? When you poured out your weary heart, word-jumbled out all the things in prayer and humbly dropped your broken pieces at His feet. What did He do? Did He remind you of a favorite scripture? Did He bring you someone who spoke directly to your heart? Did He provide unexpected joy? Slowly and intentionally placing each piece back together to make something new. Because once something breaks it never goes back together exactly how it was and that is ok. That is the growth we are seeking from the rainfall.

When life feels like more than you can bear, drop it at His throne. Run to Him like a child who is hurt and needs their mother or father to hold them. You might be battered and a little torn, but He is going to place a crown on your head, remind you whose child you are and tell you that nothing can take you from His hand.

If you are facing a difficult season know that I have been there and my heart goes out to you. You don't need to face the storms alone and you can let go of the familiar fear and anxiety that often accompany uncertain times. As we study God's word we see that He is always faithful, He conquers death, He is sovereign, and His love ALWAYS prevails. My prayer for you and I today is that our faith would be the same in the hard seasons as it is in the peaceful ones and that as we grow we can bring the peace that passes understanding into our hard seasons too.