Through the Rain

I've had ups and down the past couple of months. Whether it be in my personal life, my social life, or even at work, things haven't gone the way I planned them. I know, "Thus is life". But when these things happen, I try my best to push forward. Deep inside I am sad, or mad, or whatever emotion is warranted at the time. However, on the outside, I try and stay even kilter. Now that's not to say you can't see it all over my face in a flash or a weak moment, but I try.

The other day I was having "one of those days". It seemed as though nothing positive was happening, no matter how hard I tried to make it that way. Negative thoughts crept into my mind, doubts, fears, bad affirmations. To make matters worse, it was raining cats and dogs. But in an instant, my whole world view changed.

Let me interject here, Harper LOVES the rain and "muddy puddles". It delights her to see drops falling from the sky. She looks at this as a fun event, not something depressing. So while I sat in a sad state, she looked outside and squealed for joy. She walked away and moments later came back to my side with her rain boots on and pj pants pulled up. She simply said, let's go have fun. That was the world view changing moment.

As we walked outside, it stopped raining. She ran to the huge puddles in our driveway and started splashing. She had the best time. The smile on her face said it all. As she giggled and twirled in the water puddles, God spoke to me and said, "Don't be down, after every rain storm comes life." See, we tend to focus on the negative and not look for the good. But my 3 year old daughter saw that the rain brought fun. She knew that even though there was a mess, it could be turned into an adventure.

Wow, those thoughts really have held with me. Use your mess, your pain, your suffering for knowing that an even greater adventure awaits. Know that you don't just have to suffer through pain, or even just smile through it...you can praise through it. I'll admit that I've had more than I wanted of negativity and hurt this year. But each time I come to a part of my story that I think I can't handle, I remember God's promise. I remember that he will always be there for me, in the pain and in the celebration.

Usually when I get to one of these down moods, I look for comfort through my bible study. But, while I was looking for the perfect verse to accompany this blog, I found a book. It's called Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. I haven't read it yet, but I have ordered it because it sounds amazing. I want to share one quote from the book with you.

     "While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life's joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows,           Christianity empowers its people to sit in the midst of this world's sorrows, tasting the coming             joy." -Tim Keller

Is that not amazing!! Have you ever thought about your walk with Christ in this manner? This has lifted me up. I know that things seem bad at times, things make us mad, life isn't fair; but, if we can walk through the sorrow, we can know that the joy after will be so much sweeter. We can't doubt God's plan for us. We have to know that the big picture is coming, we may not see it and it may be hard, but God's got this. Isaiah 46:4 says, "I have made you. I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Just knowing those simple things makes my smile of endurance turn to praise!

Next time you are in a "funk" and are just trying to smile through it, remember to Praise through the Pain, it will turn your rain shower into a puddle jumping giggle fest.

Wanted to share 2 pics of Harper and her favorite thing-Muddy Puddles