By Lisa S. Tarno

When life presses in hard to the point of extracting tears with something so innocuous… it’s a warning. We file our painful moments away in our bodies and minds so that we can cope but our bodies don’t forget. Along comes a trigger that reveals there are areas of deeper unhealed hurts and false narratives we have believed. Sometimes this comes at an inopportune moment…sometimes over a simple question asked…and the revelation is that we are operating on overload and our compartmentalizing has reached its storage capacity! 

In this life there will be trouble(John 16:33), the Bible says. It will rain on the good and the bad (Matt 5:45). There it is! The expectation for all of our lives has been plainly disclosed yet why are we so surprised when the circumstances of our lives go bad? Ecclesiastes chapter three talks about what to expect throughout the course of our lifetimes as well. It’s a measure of good and bad, give and take. There is a season and time for all things. Be careful what you pray for…earlier this year I prayed that God would refine my trust issues and help me trust Him more. He has a way to let life happen and honor that prayer at the same time.

“It’s sad how easily circumstances can skew our perspective and make us doubt what we know to be true.” ~Susie Larson  In those moments of lost perspective Susie writes, “Do we place more weight on our ever-shaking circumstances than we do on His unshakable character? Do we even know who Jesus is? Do we know how he is?” Contrary to what we may be thinking, we are not journeying through life without purpose or without a compass. There may be seasons that are new to us in how to navigate, but we are not left without a guide and a means for attaining more wisdom and insight as a believer anyway. Those navigation tools are Scripture (God’s Word) and prayer (access to God).

I extract this from my own journaling and ask ridiculous questions that I do know the answers to, spiritually speaking, yet in my catharsis, mixed with a little self pity, I ask them. “Will God heal my hurting heart? Will He fill me with joy and peace again? Will He leave me in the middle of my turmoil? Is this situation even redeemable?” And so forth…Journals are meant for lamenting at times. It’s where we can dump the bad thoughts and hopefully turn it around with good ones. 

I know that God is a good god despite the figurative cloud cover at present.  I have a whole mantra with scriptures from the last big bad episode of my life. Those are my stakes in the ground of God’s character, goodness and power. Now on the heels of a fresh dose of “life”, I’m needing to remind myself of those foundational truths and add some more to stabilize my topsy turvy world. Here goes:

Will God heal my hurting heart?- YES

Psalms 147:3: “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.” NLT

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds 

[healing their pain and comforting their sorrow] AMP

“He heals the wounds of every shattered heart.” TPT

Will He fill me with joy and peace again?- YES but I have to TRUST Him

Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, 

all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” 

Romans 15:13: “Now may God, the fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope!” TPT

Will He leave me in the middle of my turmoil? – NO! He has delivered before and will again!

Isaiah 43:2: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” NLT

Is this situation even redeemable? YES! God uses the bad in life for good.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

Matthew 19:26 “…But with God everything is possible.”

Jeremiah 32:17 “O Sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and earth by your strong

hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!”

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it

on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” NIV

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for  peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” AMP

God’s Word answers life questions. It always has and it always will. We have a God who wants us to seek Him and get to know His character and faithfulness. Life’s problems either point us in that direction or they don’t if we try to self soothe. Isaiah 45:3 speaks of this quest: “I will give you the treasures hidden in the darkness- secret riches. I will do this so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by your name.” NLT There are spoils to be taken from each of our hardships. There are lessons to be learned if we apply them. There is always wisdom to be attained if we search for it. 

I end with a great quote from Susie Larson’s advent devotional, “Prepare Him Room”. 

“We tend to think that if we get our immediate needs met, and if people don’t disappoint us, and if our plans turn out the way we hope they will, life will be good and we will be okay. But it’s just not true. The whole purpose of our lives is to know God more, walk in His ways, and trust His nature.”

My ending prayer: Father God, your Word assures me you will bind up my wounds and heal my broken heart. I am choosing to take you at your Word. Thank you that you promise in your Word that you will walk through hard times with me and not leave me in the middle of distress. There is a point of deliverance and hope to be had. Thank you that you are a redeeming God that finds no situation beyond the scope of your power to transform. I trust that you have a good plan for my life even in the thick of ick! Your Word assures me to be confident that you will do a good work in my life to the point of completion. I humbly thank you and will wait patiently for You to come through. In Jesus name I pray all of this. Love, Lisa