I don’t know about you, but when I’m faced with the eye of danger or a scary situation, my first reaction is to freak out and then I cry about it and then I complain about it. Recently, God becomes my last resort with everything. Is that a bad thing? Well, yes. But we all go through spiritually dry seasons where we’re unmotivated to be in constant communication with the Lord. I’ve been like that recently, not necessarily because I’m in any way mad at him or annoyed that He put me where I’m at. It’s just the struggle of unmotivation. It seems when I feel like I have life all figured out, when I feel like life is going according to plan, that I lean on the Lord least. I don’t do it purposefully, it just happens. I feel conviction to talk to God and spend time with God, but I just ignore it because I’m a terrible, messed up, ready for it? Human. When everything around me is going great, I consciously thank Him for it, but that is the only communication I have with him. I say “Thanks Jesus. Okay, bye now.” There is no substance to that. God is going to bless you at some point in your life, because that is just who He is. He is a generous God. But the same God that gives, can also take away. And let me tell you this- this week, He certainly took away.

Don’t take this the wrong way.

God doesn’t make bad things happen to you. He is not an evil God, neither does He want you to fail. Our God is a good God that wants you to succeed. He wants you to lean on Him for that success though, and never take anything He gives you for granted.

Most of the time, we, as humans, get so caught up in Jesus’ relentless grace and provision that we begin to take it for granted more and more.

Our thank you’s get shorter and our prayers become fewer.

Over the course of this summer, I have experienced so much. It’s been a great summer. One of the best I’ve had, if not the best.

God has allowed me to feel love in the purest of forms. He provided me with a job that works well with my schedule and bosses that not only are lenient and gracious with my time, they want to be involved in my life and give me great advice and comfort when the going gets tough. He brought my friend all the way from Michigan to visit for a month, oh how He knew I needed her. He provided me with finances to save for nice things and youth to poor my heart into and a boyfriend who loves me so well. But over this summer, I have felt also an enormous amount of stress and loss. One of the people I considered to be closest to me has ran so far away from the Lord and away from family and friends and has no shame or regrets about anything; that breaks me into a million pieces. My grades for the summer quarter I took to get ahead were so bad that it put me in a rough spot with financial aid, so I am here still wondering what Fall Quarter will hold for me. That is so foreign to me, but the situation is another story for another time.

The thing is, God has been so great to me. I have been so pathetic to Him. I have failed Him greatly, but He is here reminding me now in my stress that He’s still here, loving me though I fail Him every day. Sometimes it’s not “the end of the world” that causes us to lean on Him, but a trip down “you had this plan but the life I have given you is not yours to have” lane. Yep, I get it, that feels like the end of the world. But it’s a burst into reality, isn’t it? God you’ve been so good, and I’ve been so weak without you. But Your love conquers all of the fear, pain, regrets, and stress that I’ve felt over the past month.

I’m not God. I can’t tell you that that’s why He makes you go through bad situations. To bring you back to Him.

I think we need those situations, though, to put things back into perspective. To make us stronger.

Our decisions are not our own. Every decision we make is predetermined, you already have the victory, because Christ won the victory.

You’re not bound by the situations that God lets you go through, because He will get you through them and He’s going to take care of you.

It’s not the end of the world and you’re going to be okay.

A change in circumstance doesn’t mean that you’re done for. It will only last for a short time.

God has been reminding me of that lately, because everyone in my life instead of just a pity cry “You’ll be okay” has been telling me, “You thought it was going to be bad last time, and here you are, already through it. You’ll be okay. It won’t last forever and your situation now doesn’t determine how it’s going to be for the rest of your life.”

Isn’t that so true, guys?

I have the best friends.

Anyways, the point is to show you your progress. I look back at my Facebook memories a year ago today and I see such brokenness and at times, loneliness. That was a theme of last year. I’m here to tell you that that’s all said and done now, and I needed to feel that brokenness then because if I didn’t, I would in no way appreciate where I am right now. I feel the exact opposite of that. I actually feel like my cup is full. I’m so blessed to be loved the way I am.

Without the memory and the brokenness of last year, I wouldn’t see the growth.

Seeing that makes me realize that where I am now is just a glimpse into how good my future is going to be. What a promise that our God gives us! Yes, your life will be a train wreck at times, but you’ll get back on the rails. He promises that it will be okay, and crazier times are ahead, but He wouldn’t put you to it if He couldn’t get you through it.

God puts our pieces together, because we all have a breaking point. We all shatter sometimes and we all have to crack before we are formed into a more beautiful art piece.

Don’t give up on something just because the season you’re in is fragile. Fear and pain builds perseverance.

I’m just taking life as it gets thrown at me, right now, but I pray that through whatever happens in the next week, that I will learn to appreciate the terrible things that happen and take them as a blessing in disguise. Even though it’s hard to go through difficult situations, your difficult situation is nowhere even in slight comparison to how bad it could be.

Sometimes situations throw you so far into a whirlwind that the situation you were in last week might never be the same again.

It’s been proven time and time again.

I’ve had friends who have been engaged, married even, and thought they had their life all figured out, just to find out that that wasn’t what God had planned for them.

Maybe God doesn’t want me to take three classes this quarter, I’m learning to be okay with that.

Yes, it’s a huge setback, but I’m taking life as it gets thrown at me now, and I’m going to try not to complain and be afraid about what happens now.

You’ve heard it time and time again, I know. So have I, but God has you in this place for a reason, you’ll know what it is soon enough. Trust His promises and trust Him to get you through it.

Work hard. Pray harder.