Today, we are honored to have Jodee Sturm join us in the Dance With Jesus Birthday Beach Bash & Blog Tour. She was raised in the country and is a daughter of the Risen King. She’s blessed to have the most wonderful, supportive family a girl could dream of. She’s a writer and God has given her a vision for a facility to rescue broken, abused, abandoned and addicted women and if applicable, their child/children. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
Have you ever felt like David did in this Psalm? Like God had just abandoned you? Right in the midst of a devastating situation, where was He? Your pain left you blind. Your suffering was so intense you were no longer capable of comprehending anything but pain. And to top that off, you truly felt as if God was nowhere around. But how could that be? He wouldn’t let you go through this much agony, alone, would He? After all, He loves you…
Have you been there before? I have. I’ve been down in those valleys; down in the pit, and let me tell you friend, it’s dark there, very dark. Especially, when you think God has abandoned you, and you even begin to question His love for you. When you’re so blinded by the pain of your circumstances and your emotions are as raw as a fresh piece of meat, you’re not even capable of awareness — only pain. For you, the world has ceased to turn.
Look closely at Psalm 13 above. What can we tell about David?
What I see is David having a conversation with God while he’s obviously in very deep distress. We can tell that he’s really troubled because he asked God “How long?” four times! But then look at the last paragraph. David says to God, “I trust in your unfailing love…” Now… He’s already feeling better after expressing his feelings to God. He’s found strength.
We turn to God for most of our troubles, big and small and He delights in our coming to Him, after all He is our very present help in our times of trouble. We may try to handle some of the smaller troubles on our own, but we run as fast as we can to Him, with the ones that turn our lives upside down and leave us shattered. I’m talking about major life altering events like losing our home, divorce, losing our job, death of a spouse, death of a parent, a sibling or maybe worst of all — death of a child.
My friend, Susan Mead is a Best Selling Author, Speaker, a Chaplain and she’s also a Mom. Susan has recently published one of the most inspiring, heart-gripping books I’ve ever read; Dance with Jesus – From Grief to Grace. I ran the gambit of emotions while I read it – no kidding! She had me in stitches one minute, serious another, concerned then squalling my eyes out. I felt like I’d been to a church during revival!!! -SO EMOTIONAL-
To finish reading Jodee’s post, click here now.
(Oh by the way, she has a giveaway there you may want to know about!)