I Am Who You Say I Am

Something the Lord has been firmly putting on my heart recently is "you are stronger than you think." It's so easy for us to get caught up in these moments of weakness, pain, or hurt that we forget how strong we are. We get so carried away in fear, anxiety, or sin that we forget the truth. We forget that God is with us, that we have all the strength we need to push through, that God has already equipped us for whatever situation we are walking through or will walkthrough, that our suffering produces steadfastness and that joy comes in the morning. I'm sure you've walked through those moments. In fact, I bet every single person who's going to read this has walked through moments like those. The thing is, those moments come out of nowhere, and that's why they so easily catch us. Life can be going in the right direction, and you are finally honestly and wholeheartedly happy. Then in a blink of an eye, everything changes. The plans you once had are no longer. The people you once clung to have disappeared. The job you once worked so hard for was given to someone else. The child you once held at night was taken too early. The baby in your stomach that you loved so deeply didn't make it. The significant other you prayed so hard for is nowhere to be seen, and the future you once pictured so clearly is just a dream of the past, but why? Why, when everything is finally going right, does it all seem to come crashing down? Why, when you finally overcome your fears, do they seem to somehow creep back in? Why, when you finally open your heart to trust, the trust is broken? I find myself asking these questions sometimes daily. The only answer I get for them is that we live in a broken world, but the world's brokenness doesn't have to predetermine ours.