10-9-22 New Visions
Quote: “A lot of things broke my heart but fixed my vision.”
As we get older, we can’t help but notice how fast time seems to be going by. I swear it speeds up every month! Sometimes when I feel like things are moving too fast, I spend time looking back at pictures, cards, and notes to remind me of great memories – trips, celebrations, milestones, etc.
But sometimes, memories pop up that aren’t so great.
When I read this quote, the first word that came to mind was clarity. It is beyond hard when we are going through a storm to see the purpose of the storm. But once we are removed far enough away from a painful event, sometimes we can clearly see the lesson or reason.
Yes, a lot of things have almost broken me. But wow did they help me see clearly.
The Bible says in Psalm 119:105 “Your words are a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” When we are going through something difficult, it is so important to ask God what the message is in the mess. I literally say out loud to him, “What in the world is going on? What are you up to?!” It helps me through it. I know God’s got my back and calling out to him makes me feel better! His answer is usually the same: “Be patient. I’ve got this.”
If you are currently going through something hard or are finally out of a storm, take some time to do some reflecting and praying. If we don’t understand the purpose or reason behind the pain, it will just pop back up in a different form. We learn so we don’t make the same mistake twice. Plus he wants us to learn so we can help others.
One of the prayers we pray over the boys in the morning is: “And help the boys to get through their pain today. That you will only remove it after they’ve learned the lesson you want to teach them.” We know this is a bold prayer because our hearts want to scream to God to get rid of the pain now!
I can honestly say that out of some of my deepest valleys have come some of my favorite mountaintop moments. We appreciate the top so much more because of the treacherous climb up! We look back and say wow, that was awful! But look where I am now. Look how far I’ve come! The lessons we learn along the way become stepping stones to help us travel this crazy thing called life. We must always keep our eye on the prize – a life full of ups and downs but at the end, a look back on a life well lived.
May you begin to see things clearer than you’ve ever seen them before!
