Day 13: Hopeful Hope
Look back over your life.
From where you WERE to where you ARE today..
Would you have ever BELIEVED you would get through
____________,
and
____________,
and
____________....
and
still be HERE?
Amazing, isn't it?
What if GOD had revealed everything you would experience
throughout your life before you ever lived it~
especially the NOT-SO-GOOD?
Would you have BELIEVED you could LIVE THROUGH IT?
Yet, if you are BREATHING today, you did.
You lived THROUGH ____________.
And somehow, you made it to the other side.
So maybe you look back and think,
I was COURAGEOUS.
I was BRAVE.
I was STRONG.
I was VICTORIOUS.
But wait.
WHO gave you the STRENGTH?
WHO carried you when you couldn't carry yourself?
WHO was there when you thought you couldn't take one more step?
There it is.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT ME"
Maybe the testimony isn't,
"Look what I survived."
Maybe the testimony is,
"LOOK WHO CARRIED ME THROUGH."
JESUS!
That changes the way I LOOK BACK.
Because when the NOT-SO-GOOD springs up in the HERE & NOW,
I can look back at THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.
HE was there then.
HE is here now.
And HE will be there tomorrow.
I didn't simply get through by the skin of my teeth.
GOD used what I went through to transform me
more and more into who HE created me to be.
Because,
"In all things GOD works for the good of those who love HIM..."
(Romans 8:28).
Did you catch that?
It doesn't say ALL THINGS ARE GOOD.
Because some things are most definitely NOT GOOD.
Loss isn't good.
Rejection isn't good.
Heartbreak isn't good.
Suffering isn't good.
But, GOD IS GOOD.
And our GOOD GOD can take the NOT-SO-GOOD
and somehow work even there.
Maybe that is where
"IT'S NOT ABOUT ME"
becomes so real.
Because the story isn't ultimately about what happened TO ME.
It's about what GOD did IN ME and THROUGH ME
while I was going through it.
How would I recognize
HIS PEACE
so deeply if I had never needed PEACE in the middle of anxiety?
How would I treasure HIS ACCEPTANCE if I had never felt the sting of rejection?
How would I understand the FREEDOM of FORGIVENESS
if I had never carried bitterness?
How would I celebrate BREAKTHROUGH if I had never experienced BREAKDOWN?
How would I cling to HIS JOY if I had never walked through despair?
Not because GOD needed those things to hurt me so HE could help me.
But because when those things entered my story,
GOD DIDN'T LEAVE.
HE stepped right into the middle of them with me.
And somehow,
HE used what could have destroyed me to draw me closer to HIM.
Oh, the list goes on.
Because GOD really does work IN ALL THINGS.
So how would I know the depth of
THE LOVE OF GOD without knowing JESUS?
I wouldn't.
Because JESUS isn't simply part of my testimony.
JESUS IS THE REASON FOR MY TESTIMONY.
So now it's your turn.
How would you know if you had never experienced ____________?
And when you LOOK BACK, what do you see?
Your strength?
Your courage?
Your ability to survive?
Or can you see HIS HAND holding you through it all?
Because,
"IT'S NOT ABOUT ME".
It's not about how strong you are.
It's about how faithful HE IS.
So if you are walking through the
NOT-SO-GOOD today,
or still carrying the pain of something NOT-SO-GOOD from yesterday...
don't let the pain have the final word.
Look for the open door to experience more of JESUS.
And one day, you may LOOK BACK and realize that
you thought you were just getting through it.
But GOD was carrying you through it.
Because,
"IT'S NOT ABOUT ME".
It's about
"THE GOODNESS OF GOD"
(Listen to "Goodness of G0D below).
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