December 18 When Things Are Hard

I was part of an audience that witnessed an amazing sunset last night. It was an amazing display of beauty that took my breath away. A painting done by God. The fiery colors of orange, red, and purple were stunning. The Creator of the Universe paints the sky each night and few of us are around to notice it. It's there, but many times there are things that are blocking its view. Sometimes it's the weather, other times it's busyness and heart burdens. Yesterday if hadn't been that the sunset was right out my window of the place I'm staying I would have missed it.

A heavy burden was laid on my heart yesterday and I had a choice of what I was going to do with it. Some difficult words were said to my husband and I, ones that at first pass had the potential of being very hurtful. We had been talking the day before how we both wanted to grow in letting what others think and say about us not bother us so much. Little did we know we'd get to practice that right away. Breathing in before I said anything, I asked the Lord to be my peace. Deep peace, heart-guarding-peace, peace that passes understanding peace.... The emotions came and we had to move past our initial  stunned reaction to a place where we could ask the Lord, How would you want us to respond to this? What does loving someone else look like? Does it mean ignoring how we feel and it's all about the other person? I'm not sure that's it either.

We live in a broken world and events of the past weekend showed us even more how deep this brokenness runs. The brokenness affects our relationships with one another and we have a choice daily to choose His response to the pain. Ignoring it isn't the answer. Christ came to restore relationships and He broke down the dividing wall between all of us and has established peace. His kingdom has come and we can live in it. We can be peacemakers and pure in heart and experience the reality of the kingdom of God here and now. God looks at the heart which means my response in each situation is all that I'm accountable to Him for. How I react inwardly and how I respond outwardly both matter to Him. There are some learned responses and gut reactions that are second nature to us that we need to relearn.

Together my husband and I laid our hearts before the Lord, expressing our pain and asking Him for His perspective. It was a holy moment. He met us and ministered to our hearts and helped us navigate through it.

Thankful for Christ and His kingdom this morning. He has shown us a different way to live in His kingdom. 

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