Where God's Word Meets Our Mess
I place too much emphasis on my bank account. I am a hoarder when it comes to money. I don’t want to give or even tithe, though it’s silly when I really think about it. My money isn’t even mine, yet I save it like it is.
I hate spending money. If I could, I would save every penny that I earn or receive. But what good would a bank account full of money do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. My penny-pinching behaviors make no sense, but I continue to pinch pennies nonetheless.
Thankfully, I haven’t had to endure many goodbyes. I said goodbye to my grandfather before he passed away, I said goodbye to a close friend when she moved to another state, and I said goodbye to my sister when she headed off to college. But now my home is taking a temporary trip to a distant land called “college.”
I wish I could stay in high school forever with my family, friends, and church family. Instead, I can prepare for college life—meeting new people, experiencing new things, and learning to juggle a new schedule. As I’ve mentioned multiple times on my blog, these upcoming experiences freak me out. A tiny part of me is excited, but the other part of me would rather crawl in a hole than go off to college.
His grace is enough. His power lives in us when we boast of our weaknesses. We can be satisfied living with struggles because He makes us strong when we are weak. Knowing this won’t make your troubles go away. It won’t make the stress of a math test or an irritating co-worker vanish into thin air. It won’t remove the pain from a health problem or from losing a loved one. But without this truth, we are hopeless.
I think most people feel like an unbaked bowl of cookie dough for the majority of their lives. We feel like an unbaked bowl of dough, or a blank canvas, or an unfinished math problem. And, for most of our lives, we constantly ask when the dough will be baked, the canvas will be painted, or the problem will be solved. We waste our whole lives trying to figure it out. And, as we try to figure it out, wrestling with questions and doubts and concerns, the cookies are being baked in the oven, the canvas is being painted, and the math problem is being solved—and we don’t even realize it.
Fear doesn’t have to control you. Don’t let fears and worries rule your heart because you’ll be a miserable wreck. Let Christ’s love compel you to be brave (2 Corinthians 5:14).
Every experience happens to Christians for a reason. Maybe you’ve experienced a trial to help someone else get through it.
He began a good work in you, and He isn’t a quitter. He’s not going to stop working in you now, friend. Your situation is happening for a reason, and that may be the only thing you can know until we go to heaven. So try to hang in there, persevere through the darkest days, and always have hope in our Almighty God.
Tizzie's Tidbits of Truth 