Have you ever had something happen that you just couldn’t explain?
{If your answer is no, you probably need to pay a little more attention to the things that happen in your life because I can guarantee you that there are instances that occur daily that there is absolutely no explanation for.}
Seriously one of the hardest things to grasp is when bad things happen for no apparent reason. For me, dealing with hardship is so difficult because I just always want to know why. I want to know why things happen to me and why I couldn’t stop them. I almost always struggle to see the bigger picture and to think about how maybe it could help me down the road because honestly in the moment, sometimes life just really sucks. I think the hard part for a lot of people is knowing what to do once a hard time has passed. Where do you go from there? What happens when your dreams are crushed or your heart is broken into a million pieces? How do you put yourself back together after everything has completely shattered? The answer is that there really is no good answer… you just do it. You literally just have to push forward every day because there is no other option.
If you’re like me, you read that last sentence and thought, “wow, thank you Captain Obvious, that was so not helpful at all,” and I totally get that. In life, we want clear cut answers. We want instant results and we want to be in control of our own destiny. But the thing is, any answer I give you is completely synthetic. It’s made up and insignificant because honestly I have no more insight into the great wonders of life and all its mysteries than anyone reading this post. The truth is when your world crashes around you, there probably won’t be anyone who can give you all the answers you so desperately search for, I know for sure that I don’t have them. But there are two things I know for certain:
1) Things will always get better. Always. – I know it’s easy when you have a friend going through a rough time to tell them “everything will be okay”, especially if your life is going smoothly. It’s easy to assume things will be fine if they are, in fact, going fine. And if you’re the friend going through hardships, you will take that advice and probably throw it in the trash because that person just doesn’t get where you’re coming from; they don’t feel the heart ache you feel, and they just don’t get it. But take this from the 17-year-old girl, sitting in her room at 12:32 a.m., whose face is finally rid of tear stains from a freshly broken heart: Things will always get better. Trust me, I get it.
2) There is a King in heaven who calls you his child. What Father wants to see his child in pain? He grieves when you grieve and mourns when you mourn. He desires nothing more than for us to live abundant lives for him, and to find success in this place He’s given to us as home. He wants you to live your life to the full (John 10:10), and when things interrupt that fullness, he wants you to turn to him for comfort. He’s there every second of every hour of every day, and when your heart is broken or your spirit’s crushed, he’ll take the time to heal you. (Psalm 34:18) Draw near to Him in times of despair because he’ll always reach down and redeem you.
Honestly, I sat down to write all of this partially for me because these are things I need to hear, and quite frankly, I’d much rather read what I’m thinking than simply talk to myself. But my hope is that you realize that there are situations in life that will really just screw things up. Things will happen that you never saw coming and they may even break you for a little while. You may feel like there’s no moving forward, like you can never escape the rut you’ve been put in because how could you be happy when all you feel is complete and udder defeat? It’s natural to take the time to grieve your losses and to shed tears for your past, but at some point, you take all of that pain and the suffering and you make something beautiful out of it. You shape it into whatever you want it to be and you make it new. Take control of your pain, take control of the grief, take control of the uncertainty and build your life from it. Rise out of the ashes into something you never thought you could be or do something you never thought you could do. This life is way too short to let the things that hurt you become who you are. Dealing with heart ache and disappointment can be a daily battle, and it’s up to you whether or not you win the war. There may be moments when that pain comes back, and that inescapable heart break resettles inside you, but you haven’t lost until you’ve handed over the flag.
So yeah, be sad. Cry until your eyes are puffy and your cheeks are salty. And be angry. Yell until your voice is strained and your face is red. But once you’ve done that, let it go. Throw the grief out the window and don’t let it drag you down with it. Not only is there a Father who loves you, but there’s an enemy who will do anything to watch you squirm. He takes advantage of the vulnerable stages of our lives and uses them to fill our heads with thoughts that do nothing but destroy us from the inside out. When you let him convince you that you’re not good enough, that’s when you’ve lost the fight. You are good enough, and you will be okay. You deserve happiness and you’re in control of finding it. Don’t be afraid to get better, and don’t be dictated by your own emotions. You own your thoughts, don’t let your thoughts own you.
Samantha Reynolds 
Leave a comment