Sriley is already one of my closest friends, and quite honestly the anticipation for where we are headed is too much for me to handle. Soon Sri and I will go from seeing each other once a week if we’re lucky, to falling asleep 2 feet away from each other, and I don’t know if the world is ready for that level of crackhead. Sarah is my perfect balance. She is crazy in all the ways I am sane and sane in all the ways I am crazy. She is the life of the party but also someone who points it all back to Jesus in the most beautiful way. She is someone I could not have done these past two years without – and there are so many other people who will tell you the exact same thing. Sarah leaves an impact on every single person she meets. She is special: she loves like no other, laughs like no other, and you will not leave a conversation with her feeling anything less than pure joy.
I am a PALE girl. Any tan you’ve ever seen on me was 100% fake. Don’t get it twisted. So I know very well that on a cloudy day, it’s actually very important to still put on sunscreen to avoid getting sunburned. But there’s days in the summertime when I very much forget that information and I spend all day outside, observing the clouds and thinking to myself that I don’t need to worry about sunscreen. Sure enough, at the end of the day, my shoulders are bright red and I am in pain for the next week.
Cloudy days are actually usually the days we get the most sun because our guard is down. I think God works the same way here.
Sometimes, it can feel like every day is a cloudy day. You can’t see God working. You feel like all of the joy in your life is gone. The motivation to do the things you once enjoyed is all dried up. Something has happened in your life and you feel so devastated. Or maybe you’re just so tired that the only accurate way to describe how you feel is empty. I’ve been there.
So everything starts to feel a little cloudy. We might even feel like the sun has gone down–like God has abandoned us completely. That we’ve been left out stranded in the darkness with nothing to hold on to and nothing to take hope in. But 1 John 1:5 tells us that God is light; and in him there is no darkness at all. Once again, don’t get it twisted. God HAS NOT abandoned you. The sun has not gone down. There might just be a cloud that’s making it hard to see him working right now. But what have we learned about cloudy days? On cloudy days, we often let our guard down. This lets God tan our shoulders, and put freckles on our faces, and lighten our hair a bit. In other words, he is bringing growth within us. He is very hard at work within us, especially when we can’t see Him.
Right now might feel a bit dark for you. It feels a bit dark for me. But, do not fear. Romans 8:28 tells us that God works all things out for our good. The cloud will pass, and you will see all the growth that God has done in and around you.
I’m going to end with a Psalm that inspired this whole train of thought. This Psalm comes right before Psalm 23, which you have probably heard before. That one talks about God forcing you to lie down in green pastures and care for you intimately. But right before David wrote Psalm 23 (this is assuming the psalms were written in chronological order, which I actually don’t know if that’s right, but I like to think they were) David writes pleading God to not forsake him. He feels drained and empty, but he decides to praise God in the emptiness and devastation he is feeling. And sure enough, we learn that of course God was teaching David in this time, because right after this moment he is brought to the rest he feels with God in Psalm 23. This can be true for us too. God is working through your darkest moments. Choose to praise Him because you know this is true.
Psalm 22:
‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
‘He trusts in the Lord,’ they say, ‘let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.’
Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him—may your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
Stuff With K-Huff 