A good word for bad times <3

Well…early in January I posted a picture of our four grands on Instagram and captioned it…

Welcome 2022, please be kind to us. 

I meant it. 

2020 and 2021 were hard for the world at large and for individuals and we were hoping for a break.

It has not come. 

We have attended more funerals in the first three months than we did in full years plus in the past seasons of our life. 

And not funerals of people who had run the race for a long time and although it’s sad, we kind of know where this thing ends on planet earth. Oh there were a couple of those, but mostly we sat in pews with our heads shaking as they were younger than us or our generation. 

There have been some rather upsetting accidents in the lives of those nearest and dearest to us. Everyone is doing okay, but healing and recovering has been expensive and takes time. 

Then there is the continued strife over racism, wars, refugees, politics, and this darn Covid that rears its head on the news and in conversations and it wears a soul out. 

People that are so sweet…so kind..have received diagnoses that shake us to the core and we don’t understand the suffering that has been allowed to come to them. 

Sure there have been good things. There always are. There have been sweet moments and God has used things meant for evil and turned them for good. 

But our pre-dinner prayer list grows longer and often is accompanied by pauses where our tears catch in the throat and we just let those speak our petitions. 

So as I walk the neighborhood and pray and ponder, this verse has been coming to mind and I think we need to hold on tight to it right now.

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed;

we are perplexed, but not in despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken;

struck down, but not destroyed –

always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,

that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our own body.

2 Corinthians 4: 8-10 NKJV

Are you hard-pressed? 

You are not crushed.

Are you perplexed?

You are not in despair.

Are you persecuted?

You are not forsaken.

Are you struck down?

You are not destroyed. 

In Christ, you carry His death and Resurrection and thus His life is made evident in your own daily existence. 

If at some point today you do feel crushed or despairing or forsaken or destroyed, go back to this and refute that feeling…say, as I have been saying…

I may be hard-pressed BUT I am not crushed!

I may be perplexed BUT I am not in despair!

I may be persecuted BUT I am not forsaken!

I may be struck down BUT I am not destroyed!

Bless you friends…you are dearly loved <3

Gentle reminder, my site is going to be receiving some techy TLC in the next two weeks, so hang tight and I will check in when I can <3