THE HARD DAYS

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“It’s the hard days — the days that challenge you to your very core — that determine who you are. You will be defined not just by what you achieve, but how you survive,”

This quote was pulled from a commencement address given by Sheryl Sandberg COO of Facebook. 

To put it into context, she was sharing this sentiment in the wake of the loss of her husband.

And yesterday a good friend, a partner in this fight against the opiate epidemic, posted the quote to her FACEBOOK wall and that prompted another response from a dear and right now, hurting, friend.

I wouldn't trade any of the mistakes I've made or difficult times I have had to endure because each and every one has given me a depth I otherwise wouldn't have had...the kind of depth to search into the deepest and darkest places of my soul and expose them to a God who is big enough to meet me there...the kind of depth that has revealed to me things about myself I have never known and can never NOT know again...things I now know I cannot live a full life without....the kind of depth to understand that each of us has been called to our own unique path that doesn't look like anyone else's...revealing that no one has a right to know all the intimate details of that path except My Father...the kind of depth that has given me the courage to walk that path blindly...stepping out in faith simply because at first I had no other choice but to jump..the kind of depth that compels me to love and forgive and provide compassion to even the most severely lost and broken...because it's that same radical love, forgiveness and compassion that put me back together even stronger and closer to Him than I was before.

Powerful huh?

And I share this today because we have ALL have been there.

We all have been challenged by the seemingly overwhelming.  

We have all been met at times in life with the seemingly insurmountable.

And yet as so eloquently penned and shared by my friends, it is in those times that GOD does some of His most amazing work on us, through us, in us and around us! It is often when we are willing to admit our vulnerabilities and frailties, when we drop the fallacy of self-reliance and sufficiency we can remember that…

Change is not found in defending our righteousness, but in admitting our weakness and crying for help. - P. Tripp

The interesting part about these posts, about these dear friends, is EACH has dedicated themselves to SERVING other “broken folks”. 

They have embraced the truth that all PAIN has purpose and often that PURPOSE, that learning, that experience or that journey has been allowed and orchestrated to not only teach THEM something, but prepare them for lessons to be taught to others in their future!

The truth is GOD loves us TOO much to leave us as we are.  There is always refining going on and without question, refining, learning, re-defining, and teaching are usually not easy or pleasant experiences by any stretch.

...troubles test your faith and prove that it is pure. And such faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold will ruin. When your faith is proven to be pure, the result will be praise and glory and honor – 1 Peter 1:7(ERV)

I don’t know if you too are enduring a difficult time right now. 

Maybe you like my friends are GRABBING with both hands the truth that the passage from 1 Peter promises, that if you STAY steady, if you embrace the difficulties and see these hard days as DEFINING MOMENTS not defeating ones, you TOO will emerge with a greater sense of wonder and AWE at the radical purifying love of GOD that is ALWAYS revealed on the OTHER side of the fire!

Proverbs 17:3 (ERV)

Fire is used to make gold and silver pure, but a person’s heart is made pure by the Lord.

I love you all!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE