Skip to main content

I wish I could hold you and tell you everything is gonna be alright.

I heard what you went through.
You don’t even know.
I keep thinking how you must wonder how, if there’s a God, He could let it happen.

I wish, sweet one, with all my heart, that just for a moment that I could give you my heart and let you feel and see and taste what I have:
that He is infinitely good.

I know that more now than ever before.
And that’s after the anxiety, after the broken friendships, after the failings, after the watching of family members make heart-wrenching decisions that I wish I could turn back.
It’s after the heading into the unknown because I think that God is leading and finding myself in the midst of it disillusioned, bitter, and wondering what hope and joy even are.

It was then that He met me in that place and showed me that hope is not an idea or an act of the will.

Hope is a person.  Jesus Christ.  Conqueror of death and sin and giver of new life: knowing Him.

I wish I could hold you and tell you everything is gonna be alright.  I wish I could make you know that He is good.

My heart breaks over your pain.
I see your longing for love; your desperate need to be satisfied by someone.
And I wish that I could make you know that Someone like I do.

I wonder if, when you think of God, you think of Him as some far-away, power seeking deity.

I wish that I could take the times that I’ve felt held gently by Him and let you feel it too.  To sense the sweet love of a Father overflowing with love for His Son; full of life through the Spirit and know that this is a God who looks on you with the utmost affection.

I wish that I could make you see how desperately you are loved by the God of the Universe.  How it’s not a cliche statement, for nice church girls who seem to have it all together, but it’s for people like us who grapple with pain.

Dear one, He’s shown me, beyond a shadow of a doubt that these hard things we deal with are not because He doesn’t care, but precisely because He cares.  
He cares enough to let people make decisions, even when they might hurt others.
He cares enough to allow those hard things because it’s in the very midst of it that Hope is found.
Hope is not just despite of all of this; it is strengthened in this.


I wish I could hold you and tell you everything is gonna be alright.
I wish I could tell you that He’s good and that He loves you.
I wish I could give you just one glimpse a gracious God, so full of love that you’ll be forever changed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Clothed with Him

Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. This sentence comes right after a verse about giving up sins.   And I’m contemplating what it looks like to give up my sinful ways of thinking and replace it with the way Jesus thinks.  I’m wondering what it means to “put [him] on.” And the weather has begun to change, so I pick out a shirt that I haven’t worn yet that’s more suited for this fall-ish weather.  It’s one of many hand-me-downs that my best friend has given me. And I go to church, and the thing I keep sensing the Spirit telling me is that I am loved.  That I need not consider the thoughts and opinions and judgements of others, but rather listen to what He is speaking over me: that I am fully loved. That I need to really believe that I am not perfect, nor will I be here on this earth. That most of the anxiety and uncertainty that I experience is because I keep trying to reconc...
1 comment
Read more

Jackie

Dear Jackie, Someday when we get to Heaven, we’re going to have a lot to talk about. Someday you can tell me all your thoughts and express your feelings and why you do what you do. Someday Renpenning won’t stand in between us and we can talk about our years together. You know what, Jackie?  We’re a lot alike. As you’ve transitioned in your preferred activities at camp, moving from hours of swinging to traversing across camp to be with all sorts of different people, God’s begun to show me just how similar we are. We both love to connect people. For me this looks like introducing people to each other and figuring out mutual acquaintances.  For you it looks like taking one person’s hand and touching it to someone else’s or leading people across camp to place yourself right in the midst of another; bringing people together. We both love to experience things with people. For me this looks like creating an atmosphere or planning an event and then getti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Being with Jesus

This season of my life has proven to be one of many tensions.  Of foremost influence has been the tension between considering my own needs and limits and putting aside what I need for the sake of others.  In the midst of this season, I was struck anew by this section from Mark 6: vv. 30-31 “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.  And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’  (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat).” What peace it speaks to my soul to hear the Savior lead them to rest, knowing their physical needs after a time of preaching which had likely left them worn out and a  return to being surrounded by people and even kept from eating. But then I kept reading... “They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.  The people saw them going and many recognized them and ran ...
Post a Comment
Read more