Tuesday, September 6, 2016

It just takes time.

I remember several years ago being in church and through tears singing, "you take my mourning and turn it into dancing, you take my sadness and turn it into joy". At the moment, I was singing a message I can't say that I really believed. But I desperately wanted to. After some time went by I could confidently say that He turned my mourning into dancing and my sadness into joy. He answered the prayer that I didn't even say out loud, even if it wasn't within my timetable.

Through every new step in my life, I have had to re-evaluate what that truth means to me. I asked myself questions like:

What does it look like?
How does it feel?
What does it mean to me personally?
How do I practically see that in my life?

If you haven't experienced tragedy then turning mourning into dancing will look different than it does after your friend dies, your sister gets cancer, or your grandma is in the hospital. At every stage, I fall back on what I know to be true. He is good. He is really good. He loves me. He is in control. He has already defeated death and sin. I just repeat it over and over until I believe it. And as I repeat it, I unpack a little more of God's character and my place with it all. Then I'm left with the responsibility of that knowledge which leads me to change my way of thinking, the way I talk, and what I do. The different depths of knowledge of victory over darkness should change the way we act every time we step deeper.

I can still confidently say that He is the good One who turns sadness into joy. It looks a little different than it did 10 years ago, of course, but as the pain has gotten deeper, the redemption has been deeper and the intimacy with Jesus sweeter.

They say time heals all wounds. I say time gives us some perspective so Jesus can step in and heal all our wounds.


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