Tripping Over Typeset

Hello friends,

I somehow like to begin my posts to you with this greeting. It puts me in the mindset that I’m not just putting words out there into the great internet world but instead I’m talking to you. You are more stable. You are more interesting. And you are who I’m talking to.

It’s been awhile since we’ve connected here. I looked back on the last post and that was a lifetime ago. A million decisions have been made since then. Life has changed, schedules have been flushed and our world is upset and disheveled.

In the beginning of all this I didn’t have the capacity to process words here.

• Our church was no longer able to meet in the church or anywhere for that matter but in virtual space.
• My university kids were coming home when they would have rather finished their semester and graduated with their friends.
• Matt could no longer have friends over or go to a friend’s house.
• School was a hot mess.
• And my normal shopping trips were now filled with people behind masks. No more smiles — or at least none that could be seen.  Six foot markers were measured off in the cashier line and a quiet heaviness and tense stress permeated the stores.

I’m an internal processor and my internals were a tangled mess I couldn’t untie or wrap nicely into anything that made sense.

I’m still there somedays.

I’m not here to debate the why’s or reasons because the reality is we are here. As my hubby says, (and I don’t always like to hear) “It is what it is.”

I struggle.

• I struggle with why a wife can’t be with her husband as he dies in the hospital from Covid-19 when she is diagnosed as well.
• I struggle with numbers and the math of it all.
• I struggle with the magnitude of how much our lives are altered. Never returning to what normal was before.  As much as I crave normal, the reality is we never go back.
• I have those I care for and love that are on all sides of this. Some that buck the system and others that are buckled down.
• I care not to debate with either because they are where they are and I am where I am. I love them where they are. I care for them where they are.
• I’m concerned for the mental toll this plays on people and my own self.

I walk for miles to clear my head and remind myself that in all this God is good.

All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been so, so good – With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.

~ The Goodness of God/ Bethel Music

The goodness of God is still here.

Somedays we have to clear more crude from our eyes than others. Somedays we have to put the news away and place the good news of God’s Presence into focus.

This morning I was up early — earlier than the sun. My heart was heavy; and dark seemed to penetrate more than just my backyard. Snow had fallen during the night and spring seemed further away.

Dear friend, I have not the answer for you or for myself. I can’t tell you when this will end or when we’ll find our new normal. I wish I knew.

Plans, schedules and concrete paths bring stability to our life. We don’t have that now but…

• We do have a God who knows the plan.
• We have a God who has the schedule.
• And the concrete, solid path of His Word brings stability to our life.

Our days aren’t clear, but our God is.

Scripture reminded me this morning that even when it’s dark and life seems covered and buried under the cold, our God still rises. The sun still rises and brings light to our life. His Word brings life.

In our waiting, our God will not fail us. He is working all things out and we can move forward knowing that He knows.

We can choose to praise Him — choose to move our focus from the dark to the Light.

We can declare hope and truth over our lives. We can stand firm on the promises He speaks over our lives and we can trust Him who speaks peace.

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. ~ Psalm 113:3

Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. ~ Psalm 116:7

Let faith rise up in us and declare that He is good in all He does. He is good in our lives. We can trust His words and stand in the certainty and firm foundation of all that He is.

I pray for you, friends. I pray God gives you joy in the midst of all this. I pray His Presence brings light to your day.

Blessings ~

Rachel