Wildernesses are places people tend to avoid. They are uncomfortable and unpredictable at best, dangerous and deadly at worst.
But they are places we all must walk through.
I have been there. I have gotten the news that shattered my world, the news that my worst nightmare was now my reality.
In the head spinning, mind numbing heartache, I fought to make sense of everything. In the swirl of emotions, many of my questions to God have boiled down to the one basic question that has plagued mankind since the Garden of Eden: why does God not stop the evil, when His Holy Word proves time and again that He can?
God never answered my questions.
But when I gathered the courage to ask Him the hard questions, He did something better.
He met me in my pain and began to show me how very much He loves me. He held all my broken pieces in His hands, and with infinite tenderness He began to heal me.
Then over time, I was able to see that I had never been alone in the fight. I began to see that He was there like a fortress when my world was being torn apart by loss and confusion. He wept with me when my heart was ripped from my chest, thrown on the floor, and smashed into a million pieces. He does not leave when the pain is too deep to see any healing on the horizon. And because of all this, I choose to believe that He is still in control when there is no happy ending and the resolution I desire does not come to fruition.
I would never choose this pain, or wish it on my worst enemy; however, I would not trade these seasons for anything. I know these wastelands will not be wasted, and I am sure that my pain is not in vain. I believe that God will create a message out of this mess. His almighty power is sufficient in my utter helplessness.
My broken heart will never be the same, for worse and for better. I’ll take it, because I have no choice, and because I have gained a relationship with my God that nothing else could have given me. My God is the only one who can take the broken and create something beautiful.
I cannot wait to see what He will do with my shattered pieces!