Ever had a week where it felt like everything and everyone around you was crumbling? Is there anything in this life and in this world that isn’t changing? What can I hang onto when the one I love or what I love is no longer there?
I stopped to visit a dear friend of mine, a strong Marine who has been faithfully caring for his wife who has dementia. As he fought back tears and tried to get some relief smoking a cigarette, he said, “Glenn, what do I fill this gap in my life with that I’ve always filled with my wife?”
My favorite uncle’s heart is wearing out. He’s 91 years old. My dad and Uncle Bob are the best of friends. I think Uncle Bob and Aunt Beth have been married forever. They’ve lost two of their three children, and they know how what committed love, grief, and finding God’s new strength is all about.
But what do you do when the people you love the most leave you, turn against you, aren’t really there, or they die? What do you do when the foundations of government, education, business, finance, health, and family are grumbling—I mean crumbling? (Freudian slip) Where do you turn when you just need a hug and no one is hugging anymore? Some people say, “When all else fails…I pray.”
When I was in seminary at Ashland Theological Seminary, one of my professors challenged me to read Dallas Willard’s book, The Great Omission. Willard wrote about the WWJD craze. He challenged me to consider this question, “Do you really believe that Jesus is with you?” In the most difficult times? In that moment, God inspired me to begin to create What is Jesus Doing transformational prayer altars. I light my candle each morning as I open God’s Word and pray and journal. I ask Jesus what He’s doing in the various parts of my internal and external world. I wait, I listen, I yield, and I write. I can’t count how many times that I’ve been exhausted, felt like quitting, and had no clue what to do. Then the Spirit of God working above, within, and through me spoke and gave me something fresh and new. Just what I needed. New strength. New perspective. Daily bread. Only to discover that what He’s offered me is just what the people I’m ministering to need to hear and experience from God.
If you don’t know how you’re going to get through what you’re going through right now, ask God. He’s all knowing, and He knows how He’s going to get you through it to a better place. As the psalmist wrote, “You chart out the path ahead of me and tell me when to rest” (Psalm 139:3). The problem is that we frequently worry and get upset about what’s going on and what’s going to happen instead of asking Jesus what He’s doing in the midst of our pain, problems, and worries. As your Creator and Sustainer, the Lord wants you to turn to Him and experience His enduring love when you’re full of wonder, doubt, anger, or fear. When you want revenge or when you feel like quitting, the One who loves justice, mercy, and walks humbly with you wants to hold you and carry you in His everlasting arms of strength.
When I fall down, He picks me up. When I am dry, He fills my cup. He is my all in all. My friends, I want to encourage you to wait on the Lord. Keep waiting. Discover and be renewed by God’s strength. His arms are always open to embrace you with His love. May He lift you up above your challenging circumstances to see life from His perspective and give you hope. Why not ask Jesus what He’s doing? What is Jesus up to amidst all of the chaos of this world? May He give a glimpse from heaven to see Him and how He’s already working in and through us to accomplish the good things that He planned long ago for us to do.