Keep on Keepin' on

I love how the Lord works. He is all knowing and ever present. To make a very long story short, he brought back into my life someone, who was barely an acquaintance in high school, and now 16 years later, He has orchestrated such a fast and tight bond we have become like siblings in a mere 2 weeks. This person has prayed for me and my family, stayed on the phone with me for hours at my most fearful time this year so far and spoken life into my broken spirit during times of turmoil.

You see, in God’s kingdom there are no acquaintances and there are no coincidences; there is only family and His hands at work in our lives. As if putting this all together weren’t enough to show me how much He loves me and understands what I need to hear and when, He laid it on this new-found brother’s heart to guide my attention to this video: Rain. In a nutshell, this video is of a man passionately explaining the intensity of the Lord’s love for us and his innate drive to keep us protected, despite what all goes on around us or how abandoned our circumstances make us feel. He does this through the telling of an experience he had with carrying his infant son through a severe rainstorm to safety. The analogy is so powerful, I daresay that if you aren’t brought to tears by the end, it is only because you’ve never gone through trials before that left you feeling segregated from life and wondering where God is.

My dear friend gave me the 32^nd chapter of Isaiah to read today, but a certain couple of verses really stuck out to both of us. Isaiah 32:16-17 says,” The LORD’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.”

This world is full of pain, chaos and heartache. People are clinging to good memories of the past, destructive numbing behavior in the present and a foggy hope in an uncertain future just to try and make it through. Our world is a desert- seemingly dead and barren. But life does exist in even the most barren wasteland, even if it’s in small amounts: a beetle here, a tiny plant there. They may seem insignificant when pitted up against the immensity of such a dry empty space, but it cannot be denied that there is in fact life. The Lord’s justice will survive in this world, though we cannot see it, though it seems to be otherwise. Sin and darkness will run rampant, but the Lord will prevail- if for no other reason than to give the few who are faithful (though they may be sparse and hard to find) a hope and a reason to carry on running the race that is set before them. He promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). And with this promise, we can continue on and because of our unwavering faithfulness to God He will feed our spirits supernaturally; though nothing makes sense and fear grips people’s hearts and our bodies should be fading away, the fruit of righteousness- our reward and nourishment for being faithful to God- will be peace and this peace will cause a stillness, a quietness and a rock steady confidence forever. No fear. No whirlwinds of anxiety. No panic over what is or is to come. Just peace and quietness and confidence. Forever.