hope & healing for your journey through the unexpected
We can’t deal with what we won’t acknowledge.
We aren’t meant to stuff our fears. We aren’t meant to pretend they don’t exist. We can welcome our fears as a way to uncover a deeper truth about ourselves. Fear doesn’t have to be the enemy. Naming our fear can help lead us out of the valleys we encounter and into the light.
When navigating the world with a rare disease or chronic illness, we often have to lay down our plans to go at the pace our body, mind, and spirit demands.
We often think of these limitations as physical, but through the years, I’ve discovered they are just as much physical as they are mental and emotional. When the limitations we often contend with are beyond our control, we must remind ourselves that it is not only okay but necessary to go at our own pace.
Inviting God into our struggles is a starting point to resting in God’s strength in our struggles. When we are weak, then we are strong Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness.
What a gift that within the places we feel weak God’s provision is what we can rely on to see us through. We don’t have to hold it all together. Our weaknesses become a place to see God at work, a place to rest in his strength.
Pen poised over my journal one morning, I felt a nudge to be still. “Take some time to rest and just be,” the voice in my head prompted me. Over the next 24 hours, I contemplated those words. I tried to piece together what I was being called to do. Deep down, I knew, but it was easier to ignore that voice.
I continued to pursue the easy path and pressed on as I attempted to pay no mind to the pull I felt—the voice telling me to stop striving and to seek rest.
A few weeks later, the pull became too strong to ignore. I had no choice but to pay attention.
What do we do when life presents us with the unexpected? Where do we turn when trials we never expected to encounter become our everyday reality?
Today, I have the honor of sharing a guest post on A Purpose in Pain’s blog. Here is what she has to say:
“My friend MaryBeth is no stranger to encountering the unexpected in her life. Her ability to hold onto hope and continue to trust in God through life’s devastating trials is a constant encouragement to me. It’s an honor to welcome her to the blog today. May her words stir you to hold onto hope as they always do for me.”
Continue reading on the blog.
We’ve been living in a season filled with uncertainty for a while now. Yet, the pandemic likely isn’t the only heavy thing in your life. Whether it be the added stress of a chronic illness or rare disease, grief or loss, family or marital strain, the struggles faced in “precedented times” haven’t gone away. Those struggles are ever-present…and in a pandemic, likely heavier than ever before.
In the heaviness, I keep being drawn to one specific word: perseverance.
As we persevere through our own distinct struggles, I want to share with you a prayer for perseverance to uplift when it all feels too much as a way to connect with God in these unprecedented days.