Where God's Word Meets My Mess
I hadn't done much video chatting before 2020, but all of a sudden, video chatting became the new normal. Google Meet and Zoom became typical places for gathering. While video chatting is great for connecting with friends and family members who live far away, it can never replace in-person interactions and relationships.
I know you’re eager for all the suffering to end. Right. This. Second. But God doesn’t want us to get too comfortable in a place that isn’t our real home. We only have to rest for a little while longer.
I’ve entrusted my heart to way too many people in my life. Thus, way too many people have disappointed me. Although this is difficult to admit, it’s partially our fault when people disappoint us. They can only disappoint us if we put too much faith, hope, or trust in them. No one deserves our hearts except the One who created them and holds them tenderly.
Even though I haven’t seen that many Hallmark movies, I’ve seen enough to know what the end is going to be: happily ever after. Honestly, Hallmark, you’re deceiving so many women with your cookie-cutter romances. Our expectations for dating and marriage are completely skewed, thanks to you and your sidekick, Disney.
Everyone tells you that college is the best time of your life and that post-college will be the worst time of your life. Perhaps the best time of your life will officially be over in approximately three months. So you panic.
I know that I almost allowed anorexia nervosa to ruin my life. Thankfully, God intervened. Perhaps you also realize that your eating disorder could’ve ruined your life. But also realize this: you are not your eating disorder.
Friends, I know singleness isn't easy. It's nobody's fault that you're un-dated, un-engaged, and un-married. But patience isn't becoming easier. Instead, feelings of loneliness, disappointment, and curiosity, and fear are becoming easier. What's a girl to do?
This poem is based on an analogy from Scripture. As the church, Christ's bride, we can live in gratitude and joy because we no longer wear darkness and shame. Just as the groom typically wears a black suit and the bride typically wears a white dress at their wedding, Christ wore black—our sin—so that we could wear white—His righteousness.
I bet we would all say that we hope 2021 is better than 2020. But what if it’s not? What if 2021 is worse than 2020? My goal for this post is not to make you lose hope but to point you to a hope that we can’t lose.
You were sure that this was going to be your year for finding true love. You were determined that you wouldn’t spend this Christmas alone. You thought you would definitely have someone to kiss under the mistletoe in 2020. But you wonder if you’ve lost your chance at finding someone to spend the rest of your life with.
I know how icky our emotions can seem at Christmastime. They bubble up and bubble over, and we panic. We don’t know what to do with these uncomfortable feelings, so we do anything and everything to not think about them. To brush them to the back of our minds. To forget they exist. And that seems to sort of work. At least temporarily. Until we are completely and utterly alone.
So many things have happened over the past five years. But one thing hasn’t changed in five years: I still want to be a writer. I still want to get a book deal. I still want to see my name on the front cover. I still want to be famous.
You can skip out on the events, miss the adventures, and avoid the opportunities because maybe just maybe that guy will ask you to go with him. Or you can go to the events, tag along on the adventures, and take advantage of the opportunities because you—as a single individual—still matter and still have a significant purpose to fulfill.
God's nature is persistent, strong, and steady. He doesn't leave. He doesn't give up. He doesn't wave. While I am not advocating habitual sin in this poem, I am advocating habitual returning to God's forgiveness.
I am not saying that God caused the coronavirus. I am saying that God allowed the coronavirus because He let sinful humans with a freewill choose to sin. (I won’t get into the blame game of who caused the coronavirus because that’s a discussion for another time.) As a pastor recently explained to me, the Fall caused a lot of unpleasant consequences for sinful humanity, including illness and death. But I believe God can still use this messy situation for good…if we let Him.
