The stories of how Christians survive and churches flourish through these horrible circumstances is truly amazing.  And exactly what we - the Church in the First World - in North America - need to hear about right now.

A couple years ago, I spent 8 days in the hospital to have (yet again) surgery on my back.  As usual, I was placed in a room with one other roommate during my stay there.  That type of situation can often lead to interesting times, but this particular instance turned into life lessons I will remember for the rest of my life.

Imagine the feeling that will bring: millions of voices crying out praises to God!  Now THAT gives me goose bumps!!!  What an incredible thing we will get to be a part of!

Their stories have helped me see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  That there is purpose for all of this.  That we can come out on the other end and say, "God loves me and God is good."

Where does God go in those times when we feel He is far away, where we think He has forgotten about us, where we feel like He is so distant and that our relationship with Him is just not what it used to be.

When our expectations are unmet, we can feel sad, discontent, and unhappy.  So what do we do with this?  What do we do with unmet expectations? The answer is simple, but it isn’t always easy.

Have you experienced similar heartbreak, disappointment and rejection in your life?  Do you feel overlooked by others, like you aren’t important, that nothing goes your way?  Do you have a lonesomeness in your soul?

And then I saw it.  An ingredient that, to me, did not belong in a tomato sauce.  What was odd ingredient, you ask? Chicken broth. 

That’s how we need to look at our life.  We only see each day, each moment at a time.  It can be confusing and hard to understand.  But we are only looking at pieces, whereas God sees the whole picture.

Prayer is an amazingly powerful gift we have as believers.  We can come before God Almighty and ask of him our requests.  Yet, I think it is highly under-used among Christians. We tend to make it harder and more complicated than it needs to be.

January 1st, 2021, is literally hours away. And while the clock striking midnight doesn’t mean that all the hard stuff happening right now is going to immediately change, we can still enter it with a plan to grow and learn and work to change ourselves. I can think of no better way to improve myself than to grow in my knowledge of the Bible.

We hear it said all the time - God’s timing is perfect. Yet, I still find myself constantly in awe of how true that statement is when I see it firsthand.  My family and I have recently had just such an experience. 

I’m sure Esther didn’t understand things either.  But in the end, she went with her faith.  She didn't become resentful, angry or bitter.

But in my recent studies, I have come to a revelation about this verse.  To be honest, its somewhat mind-blowing to me, because I have never seen it in this light before.  But it is oh so exciting. 

If you are feeling alone, if you find that you are sitting in a crowded room with a smile pasted on your face yet holding back tears because you think no one understands, remind yourself that you are NOT alone!

But if we dig deep and take a close look, shining a light on the issues, we will see that it doesn’t look very good - that it IS a problem that needs to be fixed.  And if we deal with it, if we remove it from our lives, we will see how much better things can be and how much more comfortable we will feel.

Honestly, I felt like I had lost my whole identity so I sort of “checked-out” mentally and spiritually.  I didn’t know what I was to do now that everything was different and while I was waiting on God. 

Then one day the Lord showed me - “Just do what you already know you should be doing.”

Knowing these truths doesn’t make the crying, pain, and sorrow of this world disappear, nor does it take away any of the grief. But it does give us a better glimpse into the incredible character of God. It gives a deeper appreciation for who He is.

What would our world be like if each person owned up to his mistakes, to his own sins? I dare say things would look far different. But as wonderful as that would be, we can only change ourselves and our actions.