When I think of Noah building the ark, I’m a little overwhelmed. It totally blows my mind that when he was asked to built it, he’d never seen rain, and he didn’t live anywhere near an ocean. I can’t imagine his thoughts on getting all the animals together to have them even come into the ark, much less be able to feed them for an extended period. He must have had so many questions!
FEELING ABANDONED
When my Charles passed, I was so broken…and I felt so abandoned. As I was recovering from that, I learned that I wasn’t the only widow who’s felt abandoned or forgotten by people I thought I knew and called friends. It likely wasn’t intentional, but I heard once that when grief runs really deep, many will step away instead of stepping in because they just don’t know how to help.
GOD HAD A PLAN
What that did, however, was fulfill the plan God had for me. He’s asked me to create this ‘safe space’— this widow’s online format so others could ‘come to the table’. A place where we can help each other because we understand what this kind of pain feels like!
When we follow God’s plan and trust Him to see it through. When we are obedient in trusting, we grow and can share with others who suffer the same way we have. In God’s economy nothing is wasted. All the tears, the feeling of rejection and abandonment, the healing and obedience brings an opportunity for God to create something beautiful.
GOD’S ECONOMY
God’s economy is never random or wasted. He uses us right where we are. Obedience, just like Noah had to build something he’d never seen, is a perfect example! When we don’t have the answers but move in the way he’s called us, God is pleased!
God never said our lives would be painless, but trusting him to be faithful, even when things seem impossible, isn’t about being strong, but about being willing. What makes that even more difficult, is trusting God with everything. Often we are willing to surrender parts of our lives, but are fearful with others; afraid of the loss, losing control, fear of the unknowns.
NOTHING LEFT TO GIVE
We feel emotionally depleted. We’ve been through so much, how can we even process that God wants more. We don’t feel like we have the strength to take even another step, yet God is calling us to do something. He wants to use our gifts…even in our grief for His Kingdom!
God understands our fragility. He knows our hearts are in a thousand pieces. But sometimes the very thing He uses to help us heal is giving us one small step to take. When we sit too long in our misery, depression and sadness, loneliness and an abyss of darkness will quickly threaten to overtake us. Satan will use what ever ‘crack’ in the floor we give him, and he’s good at his job!
PICKING UP ONE MORE BOARD
Trusting God to move forward isn’t about forgetting the one we’ve loved for so long. God holds our memories as tenderly as we do. He knows how much we loved. He knows the depth of our sorrow. Yet when we give Him our future, maybe we don’t have to know what God is building. Maybe we just have to be be willing, like Noah, to pick up the next board.
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