Crossing Over To The Other Side

I have a love hate relationship with a few things in my life. I don’t enjoy my job, but I love it because I am thankful to have it! I don’t like who I’ve been, but I’m thankful I can relate to people in similar situations. I don’t like disco music too much, but hey, where did some of my favorite groups get some of their inspiration? That's right, disco, so I'm thankful for it. =)

Last week was crazy rough. There was the five minutes of weeping before I had to go out the door to go to work. If there’s one word I would have described last week, it would have been “miserable.” If there’s one word to describe last week from this week’s perspective, it would be “challenging.” Two different words that give the same impression, but miserable I like think is that cloud over your head that won’t leave until it just moves on, while challenging is you moving past the cloud. Very philosophical, I know!

What I mean is a lot of what we are going through now may not be enjoyable. May not be fun. May not even be fair, but after all that I’ve been through in my life, and I’m sure a lot of people can tell the same story, situations change for the good or bad. When news of my sister having open heart surgery reached my ears, I collapsed in shock and wept on and off for the rest of the week. Was that a good week? No. Absolutely not. Did it get better? Eeh… yes and no. My sister still has repercussions from that surgery, but am I ever thankful that she survived.

See this is what I am saying. In a different perspective, we see our world shatter when we are in the middle of a storm, but when we are brought to another place in our lives, whether it’s better or for worse, we see that the storm we were in was not strong enough to kill us nor heavy enough that we were crushed that we couldn’t move on with our lives. During the time my sister was in the hospital, numerous friends and family offered prayers and support for her and my family. I am forever grateful that I was blessed with so much love and care beyond what I knew before that moment in our lives.

Today, ponder this thought, “For all things work for the good of those who have been called according this his good and perfect plan.” Romans 8:28.

That and Jeremiah 29:11 are two verses that are too familiar to me that sometimes I miss the meaning until I have crossed over to the other side of the spectrum of my circumstances.

Think about what you are thankful for today. For further reading one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, Psalm 103. There is joy found in every circumstance. Just trust in the Lord to bring you through it and what he has given you this day. There is something, trust me...