Encouragement

Life as we know it has changed dramatically. Normal will never be normal again. How do you not feel like you're drowning? How do you not feel overwhelmed with everything that is going on? How do you not feel like screaming? 

I think of the events leading up to the crucifixion. It makes me chuckle a bit because you know Jesus had to be looking at the crowd like "You praise me now, but you will crucify me soon." He couldn't voice these thoughts out loud. He was the one who had to be strong through everything and continue to carry on. He was expected to make sure that the mission was accomplished regardless of how he might have felt.

 I think we get the clearest picture of what he was feeling in the Garden. This is where the burden has gotten so heavy that he finally breaks down and admits to what is going on and asks God for strength to keep moving. He asks for help with his burden. He finally is in a position to let his guard down and vent his frustrations without worry about who would/could understand. He was finally able to admit that he couldn't handle it any longer and that he needed help.

With the world the way it is today, I think this is our breaking point. This is the moment where we have to ask for strength. We have kept going for so long, to make sure that the mission gets carried out that we have been afraid to break. We have been afraid to take a moment and get ourselves together. We have spent so much time walking around as broken people not asking for help.

Sometimes it takes the world being turned on its head for us to start putting the pieces together. Actually, that's what it takes. It takes a complete shakeup of the status quo for us to even reevaluate who we are, what we've become, and if we are moving in the right direction. Do you think that if their world had been turned on its head, the Disciples wouldn't have continued in their way of thinking, that they wouldn't have gone through a rebirth?

My prayer for you comes out of Isaiah 41. I pray that in times of topsy turvy, in times of chaos, when the world and yourself has gotten weary, that you are reminded the Lord never gets weary. I pray that you find strength in God. I pray that you surrender your burdens and let him carry them for you cause we cannot do this alone. We will ultimately fail, but when we trust in the Lord.... He will renew us and mount us on wings like Eagles. Let him be who and what we need always... And I pray that when things seem the darkest we remeber that rebirth and renewal are on their way. AMEN.

Timing

I used to think that a year was a long time.  I mean when you have only been on the earth for 9 years, your sense of time is arbitrary. I was thinking of a comment one of the little ones made and I realized that to them there's all the time in the world to get things done and accomplished. 

It's as we get older that we start to panic about getting things accomplished in a certain amount of time. It's when we become "adults" that now there are certain milestones that we feel have to be accomplished by a certain age. People spend so much time rushing to get things accomplished that they forget there are things that aren't in their control. They forget that God ultimately has the final say in when we do things. We forget that there is a season for everything. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven". The chapter goes on to talk about all the things we go through in life. It let's us know that everything happens is in his timing. We just have to trust and have faith even more so when we don't understand everything that is going on around us.

My challenge to you is that when you find yourself getting caught up in the why that you pray. You ask God to remind you that while you may not know why things are happening they are happening in his timing.