Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Small I am


It is hard for me to spill my thoughts lately. They seem so heavy and dark and brooding and wet that I feel a small part guilty for shoving them at people and saying, Here. Take these, would you? I can't hold them anymore. 
But they're not all like that.
Last month I wrote in my journal, I can't see the silver lining in this. And I don't think there is one. I was angry at God, and not without reason. But He was patient with me. Even still, when there are the mornings when I wake up wanting to scream in anger and frustration, even then, He blesses me.
This month is better. It's not easier, but it is better. The struggles have shifted and the tragedy lives elsewhere in my heart, not in that tender place near my spirit that makes me want to shake my fist at the Carpenter. It's in a different place. Still present, but with a different presence. And now I can seek comfort in the one who can offer it most readily and beautifully. That is good. That is better than how it was last month.

And those good thoughts, the lighter ones? They've grown in number.

I was driving away from home group the other night, feeling the best I have felt in a long time. We had talked about Christ and how His forgiveness is unfathomable, how it doesn't end. One of the men there was sitting next to me, and he got really excited and he said with a choked up voice, You know what's really incredible? God has the ability to forgive everyone. No matter what they've done, what they've been through, who they are, He can forgive them. And He will forgive them if they ask. He will do that.
There are some moments in my life when I feel very small.
And as I was driving away, I put the radio on and Joel Houston of Hillsong United was sharing his testimony. And he said something that piled on top of that wonderfulness I was already bringing home with me. He said, God does not fail at things. He does not make mistakes. He does not mess up. And we don't have to worry about His plans, because they're wonderful, they're beautiful, they are not going to fail. Because God does not fail. We may fail, but God does not fail.
I felt even smaller.

There is this verse in the Psalms, where it talks about how God keeps our tears in a bottle. I know for a fact that He has all of mine bottled up from that night as I drove home sobbing and my car was full of the sound of an Australian man's voice saying things I needed to hear.
I love that I know I will never get tired of hearing the same things about Jesus that I do every week. I love that you can devote years to Him, and still cry when you think about what He gave for you. I love how Christianity renews itself daily.

Spring is coming friends. I'm welcoming her with open arms. This winter has been trying. But I'm tired of this bitterness. I'm tired of being an Eeyore when I could be a Christopher Robin. I'm tired of my soggy thoughts dripping everywhere I go. And while I know and understand that it is okay to grieve and feel bad sometimes, I want to count those blessings again, like I was doing only weeks ago. I want that back.

I just want to wake up and have my first thought be light again.

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