Redemptive Ramblings

Young women will dance and be happy,

young men and old men will join in.

I’ll convert their weeping into laughter,

lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.

Jeremiah 31:13(MSG)

I will always remember the day my husband told me he was leaving as the worst day of my life. I can’t even begin to describe how that affected me. Let’s just say that I, a capable human being, mother of three, missionary to Africa, ended up having my first panic attack sitting in a ditch that afternoon. I couldn’t feel the presence of God. All I felt that day was pain.

That day, I identified myself as weak and broken. For months after that fateful conversation, the voice in my head told me I wouldn’t make it. It told me I was too weak and that this was the end of all of God’s plans for me. I was, in my own mind, too broken to be restored. If I could have fast-forwarded and seen the joy and the redemption that God had for me on the other side of that horrible experience, it would have made that day and the months that followed so much easier. But none of us is given that. We walk through things not knowing where they’re going. There’s a reason for that. There was a lesson in the sadness; the trial was where I grew.

But our brokenness and sorrow are only for a season. Jesus never lets us sorrow indefinitely. His love and grace are too big for that. Over and over in the Bible, God promises this to us…our sorrows will be traded for joy when we trust him. When we give our sorrow to Jesus, he can give us comfort. Laughter for weeping, joy for grief. Don’t those sound like great trades? That’s what Jesus offers when we give him our pain and allow him to speak to our hearts in the middle of our messy brokenness. 

The voice that tells us we are weak, broken, and a hot mess can remind us of the beautiful redemption that awaits. Today, let Jesus speak to your heart the beauty of redemption, and begin to trade His comfort for your grief.