Ever Present

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. ~ Psalm 46:1-2

In the face of insurmountable circumstances, God is still by your side.  You can run to Him for peace, comfort, and strength even in the midst of your world falling apart.  Now don’t get me wrong; I am not going to act like this is an easy thing to do.  When we see natural disasters that leave people utterly destroyed; or when we watch loved ones lose children to death for no reason; or when the loss of a job leaves you panicking, I don’t think Psalm 46:1-2 is going to jump right to memory and I would even say that praying in those moments is extremely hard.  However, I do know this – I have gone through tragedy in my life that didn’t make sense and things have happened to me that were outside of my control.  At the moment, in the day, maybe in the week following all I could muster was “Jesus” under my breath and through my tears.  I have even yelled at Him and felt like I wrestled with Him during sleepless nights, but I do know the only way I’ve been able to make it through these storms is through my faith.  I have hope.  It may not sound like much, but I have hope because I know that I know without a shadow of doubt and deep down in my heart that God has me.  He always has me.  Sometimes He is sitting with me, sometimes He is protecting me, sometimes He is giving me peace through the chaos and sometimes He is testing me, but He never leaves me.  He can take my screaming and shouting tantrums directed at Him because I know that God understands my pain and my anger and He can take it.  He can take yours too.  During one particular tantrum, I screamed, cried, tore my hair out (literally was pulling my hair I was in such distress) and finally just prayed myself to sleep.  God gets it.  He loves you.  He can handle it.  Take your severe pain to Him.  He wants to help.  I don’t understand why we go through hard, horrific, heart wrenching pain, but I know He gets it.  He went through it.  Life on earth is not fair, but what happened to Jesus on the cross wasn’t fair either; and He’s God!  The world hasn't been perfect since the fall of man, and it won’t be perfect again until Jesus comes back and fixes it.  I have hope because I have faith.  Faith in a good God.  Not any faith.  Not a god on a ledge kind of faith, but a living God who died and conquered death so that I could have victory.  I have heard Him.  I have felt Him.  He has been with me when I thought I couldn’t do it.  He met me and He will meet you.  I don’t know how people do life without faith and hope.  I know that He will be with me in any future loss, or disaster.  Do you know Him?  If not, pray, just ask Him to reveal himself to you.  I promise He is waiting and He won’t let you down.  And if you do know Him, run to Him.  Trust Him.  He’s got you. ~ Amen