I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but I know this isn’t how it ends. There’s life beyond this. There’s beauty and blessings and immeasurable goodness on the other side of this.
But there are days in the middle of it where you wonder. You wonder where God is. You wonder why he’s not doing something. You wonder why he doesn’t just fix this. And maybe you wonder how much longer you can take it.
Isn’t it incredible how God can speak to your situation through a complete stranger like me? Isn’t it remarkable how sometimes the messages are nothing short of divine timing to arrive at precisely the time you most need it? Let’s be real clear … the only way that happens is the work of the Holy Spirit. I have no special powers. I’m a radically ordinary person with an extraordinary God, and I’m simply honored to get to speak with you.
Sometimes I’m grateful I don’t know exactly what you’re going through because I feel totally inadequate to help in any way. I don’t have the right words. I have no idea how to guide you through some of those dark days. So I’ve learned that God, in his wise and clever ways, keeps me clueless to the details so I don’t get in the way and his words flow.
No, I don’t know what you’re going through, but God says he has life for you beyond this.
A beautiful woman named Robin came to our Bali Retreat a few weeks ago. She hugged me and said, “Your devotionals have gotten me through my darkest days.” I knew nothing about her dark days. I knew nothing about the unimaginable terror she had endured. But God knew, and he talked to her just as he has been talking to you.
Robin had many days of hiding in fear in her own home. God spoke to her on those days. Robin had many days of hoping things would change as they only got worse. God spoke to her on those days. And on the day that Robin was shot 6 times by her husband in domestic violence, God spoke to her. He spoke to her in ways only he could know through people who didn’t know.
Robin’s survival is truly miraculous. 6 bullets ravaged her body. The bullet in her neck was like threading a needle, a milimeter either way and it would have been instant death. The bullet through her chest, her abdomen, her back … all deadly. Yet, she survived. Miraculously she remained calm, feeling the presence of God assuring her she would survive for her children.
Now, 2 years later, Robin walks with strength, dignity, peace and a testimony of God’s goodness. Through it all, God spoke to her. And he was right, he always had life beyond this for her. There’s beauty and blessings and immeasurable goodness for her and her children.
Did you know within your Bible there’s a story of a man who was so overwhelmed with life that he simply didn’t want to live anymore? His days had become so dark that he wanted to die. You need to know the story because you need to know God’s response of kindness and care. God didn’t rebuke him, he personally attended to him. Who was he? Elijah.
We’ve been reading about the life of Elijah, a prophet of God. Things had been hard for Elijah. People wanted to kill him, blaming him for a drought that lasted over 3 years. Now there was Jezebel, an evil woman who vowed to kill him because of his acts against her false God. And this was his breaking point. He had had all he could take. He was over it.
Have you ever been there? At your breaking point. Maybe you’re there now. You’re just ready to throw your hands up and quit. You’ve hurt for so long and you don’t want to hurt anymore. You don’t want to care anymore. You don’t want to live like this anymore.
1 Kings 19:4, “Elijah went alone into the wilderness, traveling all day.