Fall Apart

If today is a day that you are filled with joy, possess a hope for all that is good, and feel like everything is in place, praise God!  At certain times in our lives, those days can seem few and far between. But when they come, we can feel God’s presence in a very real way.  We feel blessed!

But if today is one of those days where you feel like the opposite is true…joy seems absent, hope appears lost, chaos rules…consider that this may not be the worst thing ever.

“Why in the world did I think I could,
Only get to know You when my life was good?
When everything just falls in place,
The easiest thing is to give You praise.
Now it all seems upside down.”

Another one of my favorite singer-songwriters is Josh Wilson.  If you ever have the opportunity to see him praise God through his music and awesome chops on guitar, do it…you will not be disappointed.  The messages he brings forth are simple yet so impactful.  His song “Fall Apart” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3EWHPp80EA is a beautiful prayer from someone who is in the midst of a struggle.

“'Cause my whole world is caving in,
But I feel you now more than I did then.
How can I come to the end of me,
But somehow still have all I need? 

God I want to know you more.
Maybe this is how it starts.
I find you when I fall apart.”

We can feel like God is not with us on the rough days, that He has somehow abandoned us as a form of punishment.  But in reality, He never leaves us.  Sometimes, we just need a situation where we are stripped to our core, with seemingly nothing left, to feel God’s presence in our lives.  One of my friends at Pendleton Prison, whom I’ve gotten to know over the past few years, says it this way: “You don’t realize God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.”

I find myself returning to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 again and again.  I love the picture Paul paints in verses 16 and 17:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

This image of our struggles renewing us brings me comfort.

I think where some people can get this message a bit messed up is the “eternal glory” part.  You could infer that Paul is saying your troubles will bring you some eventual eternal reward when we leave this world, kind of like a trade-off for our suffering.  But I think the opposite is true.  Our troubles, when we embrace them, can be blessings in the same ways our sufferings are.  Eternity is now.  God’s glory is in you.  Heaven is here.

“I don't know how long this will last.
I'm praying for the pain to pass.
But maybe this is the best thing that has ever happened to me”

So, if today is a day that you are filled with sorrow, joy can still abound, hope is ever-present.  When your life feels like a mess, embrace the potential that everything is actually in place as a part of God’s good and prosperous plan for you.  Praise God!  Realize that in the midst of your end, God begins.