He is holding my hand..

I'm the kinda gal that needs to be well rested and fed to be at my best. I haven't been making time for sleep, so I'm way past tired. And when I'm tired, my emotions seem to control my thinking. The past few days I've really felt in the midst of a struggle. Somedays it's so hard to even be aware of the fact that you're there, you just get on the "crazy-go-round" and take off. But it feels so heavy, so impossible, I just want to escape. Yet how can I escape myself?

Tonight, I'd had enough. There were no immediate solutions in my head. But I knew where to find answers. When I am burdened, weary, and heavy hearted, I go to Jesus. Sometimes He speaks through the bible, sometimes through a friend. I am blessed beyond measure by a sweet friend who sends me scriptures and other words of encouragement nearly every day. What she sent today was exactly what I needed.

"Nothing can live in unbroken sunshine. Constant joy and happiness, with no clouds on the horizon, produces drought. Nonstop sunshine only creates desert. We don't enjoy storms, but they're an essential part of a complete life, and the key to victory comes in finding how to weather the storms of life in such a way that they don't distract us from our secret life in God."

Whatever stress/anxiety/emotional weight I've got right now, it's just another storm. I've been through them before, and I'll be through more in the future, because that's how I'll grow! And I know exactly where to hide when the storm is raging: "under His wings you may seek refuge." "She will call upon me and I will answer her; I will be with her in trouble; I will rescue her and honor her." (Psalm 91:4, 91:15) "When she falls, she will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds her hand." (Psalm 37:24)

He will be with me in trouble. He will honor me. That alone is unbelievable. But think about it: "I will be with her in trouble." "When she falls." These are very deliberate statements. They clearly indicate there will be trouble. No getting around it. So it shouldn't surprise me that from time to time, I experience a storm. And I realized how dull and boring and flat my life would be if I just did the same thing perfectly every day. Complete monotony. Just like the seasons and the weather change, so shall we. We were designed for a life of change and growth, not monotony.

What gives me the greatest hope is that when I come out of the storm, regardless of the outcome, I am bound to Christ. He is always with me. He is committed to staying by my side from this world to the next. All of this mess has much less weight when I keep that in mind.

He is holding my hand. What a lucky girl I am, indeed.