Sometimes when I start a post I have no idea what I am going to write down. Other times I can't hardly wait to get my hands on the keyboard, worried that I am going to forget what is coming so fast into my mind and heart. Well, today is one of those days when I have no idea what I am going to write. There are many different things running through my mind, it is hard to narrow down a topic, so I will just start and we will see what comes out.
The last couple of weeks has been one of gloomy, dark, rainy weather, incredible flooding, hurting people, hungry people, dying people, despair everywhere. We have been covered up with the storms coming through here in the Caribbean. I really have nothing to complain about in comparison to what the people around me are going through, but the truth is that I am human and my struggles, however lame, are still very real to me.
Here I am in the middle of a third world country and it is pouring down rain on an already very saturated land and I am not a happy camper. I don't like rainy weather very much. I don't like cold weather either and I really don't like mud and yuck. It causes all kinds of irritations and frustrations.The kids want to go out and play in the rain and ride their 4 wheelers and get all muddy and gross. Then they are cold and they want to come in the house and have hot cocoa and watch TV or play video games...all in wet muddy clothes. I am not talking about just my kids, but every kid on the mission center. Don't get me wrong, I love kids and I am glad that they come here to hang out and have fun, but the mud and rain just makes everything so yucky! Yesterday was the first day that we have had any really good sunshine in several weeks. This morning, I awoke and even though I was tired because I stayed up too late last night, I bounded out of bed at 5:20am to get going with my day. I got the girls up and fed and off to volleyball at 6am and then went for coffee and my bible. In the middle of getting this all done, I thought to myself, "I haven't felt happy like this in many days, what is different?" It dawned on me that the weather has been gloomy for just about the whole time that I have been feeling kind of glum. Funny how we let these little disturbances in the weather affect our mood. Now, I could "should" myself all day long and say things like, "oh I shouldn't let the weather affect me like that," but the reality is that little things like that do affect us and how we act and respond. No sense in avoiding the truth, but I did go to my bible to see if my Father God had anything to say about this. I looked up "gloomy", it isn't in the bible, at least not in mine, let me know if you find it in yours. Then I looked up despair...sounds kind of drastic for the little bit of gloom that I have from the weather....anyway, this is where God took me.
I found myself in 2 Corinthians 4. The heading in my bible for this chapter says, "Treasure in Fragile Clay Jars". Well the fragile clay jars of my world have been soaked with rain in these past days and everything is droopy and falling apart, I need a little sunshine to brighten things up. This is what God said to me:
"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies." 2 Corinthians 4: 7-10
This is exactly what has been going on with me these last few weeks with all the rain and gloom. But, the sun shines today and God does come out on top and He will bring us with Him if we will just go. Yeah!!!! I am going with Him. I like coming out on top.
I realize that the gloomy, dark feeling that I have been experiencing is not really from my kids and the mud and wet clothes, but it is from the destruction and despair that is all around me here in this country that is so devastated by the storms. These people are really suffering and I have compassion in my heart for them. I want to fix it all. Later in chapter 4 it goes on to say:
For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
This is our hope! This is what we must focus on in the midst of struggles and gloom and despair. This is how these people here get through devastation like we have seen this week. It doesn't matter how great or small our struggles are, if we focus on them, we will be taken down in the muck and the mire, but if we focus on the promises of the Father, we will come out on top because He always does.
May you be blessed and bless someone along the way today!
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