Dealing with Disappointments and Fears

Sometimes it is so hard to understand what's going on in the world. In the past few weeks, my family and I (Amy) have dealt with a lot of disappointments and fears--some major and some minor, but all confusing. We experienced the death of a very special little girl we used to babysit. Two friends of ours had miscarriages, and two godly men we know received cancer diagnoses (one with an inoperable brain tumor). Business has been painfully slow, and my mom has been very sick. The Vikings lost the game that would have put them in the Super Bowl, and our annual sausage-making weekend (see previous post) turned out to be a flop due to a missing part on our machine (I know those last two sounded a little trivial in comparison, but they were disappointing to us ;-). Through it all, I keep praying that God would just fix everything--that He would somehow make everything okay again. But the hard truth is that this world is not okay. It is a hurting, broken, desolate place filled with hurting, broken, and desperate people. We, as Christians, are not meant to feel at home on this earth. We are strangers and aliens here (1 Peter 2:11), and life in this place should make us long to go home to our Savior. But we do have hope in this life, because, as hard as it may be to believe sometimes, our God does answer prayers. Sometimes He says, "yes," sometimes He says, "no," and sometimes He says, "wait." I remember all the times I prayed that the Lord would heal that precious little one we babysat. Yet for more than four years, she continued to be controlled by a horrible illness that drained her of energy and kept her from growing normally. When she died, I asked God why He hadn't answered our prayers. And then I realized that He had. That beautiful little girl is now completely healthy and whole and rejoicing in the house of the living God. You can't get any more healed than that! Furthermore, in the midst of trials and heartaches, we find rest in the promises of God. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Joshua 1:5). Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). And His mercies will be new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). He has seen us through darker days in the past, and He will do it again, for He is more than able. So take heart, my friends! The day will come when the LORD Himself will wipe every tear from our eyes (Revelation 7:17)--when there will be no more disappointment, no more pain, and no more fear. On that day, every trial of the past will seem to be just a hazy, distant memory, overtaken by the glory of our great God. Until then, we must pray without ceasing and continue to bring hope to the hurting people of this broken world. Press on, for Christ is coming soon!