There are so many deeper ponderings in my heart but I will share just a few for now...
One thing that I have learned this last few months, as I've experienced many set backs & gotten discouraged is that often there is opposition to REBUILDING YOUR LIFE. When major trauma (whether it is quick or drawn out over time) comes, and you find yourself in a pit, the season AFTER can feel just as daunting as the traumatic/testing time itself.
One thing that I have learned this last few months, as I've experienced many set backs & gotten discouraged is that often there is opposition to REBUILDING YOUR LIFE. When major trauma (whether it is quick or drawn out over time) comes, and you find yourself in a pit, the season AFTER can feel just as daunting as the traumatic/testing time itself.
After Jerry died, there was a time when I didnt want to rebuild... I was just broken hearted & couldn't move past the huge devastation that had just happened... but then when I did decide to "pick up and carry on" I kept getting knocked back. This wouldn't have been such a big deal if I had not just experienced the stress of a new marriage, living in an un-familiar culture, being a caregiver for a terminally ill person, birthing a child, post-partum depression, changing a lifestyle of living in missions after 10 yrs away, living in the dark winter of AK, and not having any financial income all within the short span of less than 2 years!!
It has taken every ounce of strength I have PLUS lots of prayers & grace just to not give up on life.
THE GOOD NEWS IS... the winds of change are blowing and I can see a way clear now... and I read in the "good book" the other day about how God's chosen children experienced something much the same...
It was a time following the Babylonian captivity... the Israelites had been taken from their homeland (much because of their own sin & disobedience in this specific instance)... but then God moved a pagan king's heart and the Jews were allowed to GO BACK AND REBUILD... they were given many gifts and in 2 years they laid the foundation of the temple. But then, their enemies began to discourage & frighten them and ultimately put a stop to their rebuilding altogether. For 14 yrs nothing happened... BUT GOD. He moved and the rebuilding of the temple was completed... and not only that but more was done (if u want to dig deeper in your own studies, all of this is during the times of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther)...
Anyways, it encouraged me to know others have been down the road I'm on... if opposition to rebuilding our lives can be expected that makes me that much more determined to keep pressing on... James 1:4 & 12
#there is always a reason to have HOPE !
