Have you ever gone through something, and asked God, "Why would You let this happen?". Maybe you've questioned, "Why does God let bad things happen to good people?".
I don't have all the answers to all your hard questions, and to be completely transparent, I've asked some of these things too.
But, in normal God-fashion, I've recently discovered a song that has encouraged my heart in ways I cannot even explain to you. It's like God created a song just for me, all too relatable and speaking to my soul the truths I needed to hear. It's "Better Way" by the Color, and it's inspired me to encourage you with some of the same things too. (And holy cow, as I write this, I've continued to be encouraged and inspired by so many songs with the same truths.)
I don't know what you're going through right now. I don't know the hurts you're experiencing or the struggles you're facing. But I do know that God is so good, even when life is not. I know that there is a purpose and a plan for your pain, and I wish I could fill you in on all the details, but I can't, because there are parts of my story that I simply don't understand yet either.
You see
A million details, only you see
I see a fraction of the grand scheme
But you have heaven's point of view
We don't understand it, but our Father does. And He's not about to leave you in a struggle without breathing hope and life and purpose into it.
We don't get to see the whole picture. Our minds are too finite to comprehend it all, even if we had the ability to. But we serve a God with "heaven's point of view", and He has it all under control. He sees a million details we don't, and so maybe, just maybe, this hurt and struggle we're enduring right now was a part of the plan all along. Or maybe, just maybe, it's meant to be a blessing instead of a curse.
Maybe
That Mountain
Saved my heart from the valley
Maybe
That Desert
Taught me to pray for rain
Maybe
That Water
Never parted, for a reason
And you're leading me a better way
Maybe we needed this struggle to avoid a different one. Maybe this struggle was meant to teach us a lesson, one that will rock our world and strengthen our faith in bizarre ways. Maybe we have to trek through this struggle so that we can later encourage someone else going through the same thing. Maybe this struggle, heartbreak, or disappointment is God's way of reminding us that He has a better way, a greater plan, beyond what we have planned or imagined in our heads.
Someone once told me, "God always answers prayers, but He doesn't always answer with a yes." And man, that hit me hard.
Just because I'm not seeing the yeses I wanted doesn't mean God is ignoring me. Just because He's not sending angels to free me from my pain doesn't mean that He's abandoned me. Just because I'm not seeing any improvement or relief doesn't mean that He's decided to give up on the situation.
God is not done. He is not ignoring us, and He has most definitely not abandoned us.
I know that this situation is hard. I know that the pain you're enduring is getting too much to handle. I know the feeling, because I've been there too. But as God has continued to speak to me in and through those moments, He has never stopped reminding me that His ways are greater, and His thoughts are higher, and He is not done working.
Our God sees you, and He loves you. He knows whatever you're going through right now - and He's not abandoned you in the midst of us. As much as we want yeses from God, His plan is always better, and sometimes that requires a "no" or a "not yet". We won't always understand, and we may not get to see all the reasons why it had to happen on this side of Heaven, but we have to trust that He has given our pain purpose. He sees you, and He is not done writing your story just yet.
Comments