When the bottom falls out

Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life! – Psalm 130:1 (The Message)
      
      
Has the bottom ever fallen out of your life?
      
A job layoff. A death. A wayward child. A broken relationship. An unwanted divorce. Sudden or chronic illness. A diagnosis of mental disorder. Insurmountable financial challenges. Addiction – yours or that of someone you love. Your most cherished dreams go up in smoke.
      
You wonder if God hears your prayers, knows of your pain. You question if there is a God – one who cares what you’re going through. One who has the power to change things.
      
Like the psalmist you cry, “How long, O Lord? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” (Psalm 13:1–2)
      
Then you feel guilty for talking to God that way or like a failure because you don’t have enough faith for your prayers to be answered. Your hope is dried up, like the old bones lying in a desert wasteland described in Ezekiel’s vision.
      
Take heart. Even Jesus, as He hung dying on the cross, cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:35)
      
Think of how Mary and Martha felt when they sent for Jesus with the message, “The one you love is sick,” and He didn’t come for four days. By then their brother Lazarus’s body was rotting in the tomb.
      
We’ve all been there, haven’t we?
      
I love what I call the “but factor” in the psalms. There the psalmist is, pouring out his heart to God – his anguish, frustration, pain – and halfway through the psalm, he says, “But . . .”
      
“But” is a word of transition, a signal a change is about to take place, a contrast to what was said previously.
      
“But I trust in Your unfailing love” (Psalm 13:5), “But I pray to You, O LORD” (Psalm 69:13), “But God” (Psalm 64:7), “But I call to God, and the LORD saves me” (Psalm 55:16) . . . are just a few examples of the “but factor.”
      
Pore through the psalms yourself, looking for the hinge verse where the psalmist turns from despair to hope.
      
“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” El Shaddai asked Abraham (Genesis 18:14).
      
“Nothing is impossible with God,” the angel told Mary (Luke 1:37).
      
I like the way the song “God Likes to Work” by Karen Peck and New River puts it: “God likes to work when your back’s to the wall, when facing the battle and you’re just about to fall; so there’ll be no mistaking when He blesses and fills – God likes to work when nothing else will.” (Click on the song title to go to You Tube to watch and listen to Karen sing this beautiful song.)
      
Has the bottom fallen out of your life? Don’t despair. God’s hands are there, waiting to catch you.

      
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God! (Psalm 42:11).

Special-Tea: Read Psalm 130; John 11:1–45; Ezekiel 37:1–14

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT:  Read and meditate on the following Scriptures

John 14:1
John 16:33
James 1:12
1 Peter 1:7
Matthew 19:26
Luke 1:37
1 Peter 5:7
Philippians 4:6-7
Jonah 2:2
Isaiah 48:10
2 Corinthians 4:16-17
2 Corinthians 12:9
Psalm 30:11
Psalm 33:20
Jeremiah 29:11
Romans 8:28
Romans 8:38-39
Romans 8:35, 37
Psalm 50:15
Psalm 34:4
Psalm 34:19
Psalm 34:18
Psalm 34:17
Proverbs 13:12
Psalm 30:5b

Have a God-filled week!

In a fix

Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times. – Romans 12:12 (TEV)
 
When one thing breaks, everything else thinks it’s OK to break too. Well, not everything. But it sure seems that way.
    
Two weeks ago the emergency brake on the Ranger stuck. I backed into the turnaround, but when I tried to go forward, the motor stalled out. I tried again. The truck wouldn’t budge—except to go backward. After three or four attempts, I figured it was the emergency brake. It had been acting up for months, the dash light coming on while I was driving, even though the brake wasn’t on. This time, however, the dash light wasn’t on, but the brake was. The problem turned out to be a cable, which hubby replaced.
    
But when he came into the house that evening after fixing the emergency brake, I knew something was wrong. After being married to the man for 37 years, I can tell he’s upset by the set of his mouth.
    
“The four-wheel-drive’s out,” he said.
    
“That’s no surprise,” I said. “It’s been acting up for months.”
    
I always knew when he’d had the truck in four-wheel-drive because it stayed on—kind of—even though the knob on the dash was turned to two-wheel-drive and there was no light on the dash indicating it was on. I felt it in the steering and the way it rumbled going down the road.
    
The next day the lake effect snow machine decided to crank up and stay cranked up. Lake effect snow means not only snow flying sideways, but wind-caused drifts. I got stuck twice this week. The first time I got myself out. The second time my son had to pull the truck out. But not to worry. After two days the wind died down and the lane was ripe for the snow blower. Except it broke, too.
    
So here we are, between two snowstorms, with no four-wheel-drive and no snow blower. But I did get a song out of it, to the tune of “Jungle Bells.”
    

Dashing through the snow in a broken four-wheel-drive. 

Through the drifts we go, sliding side to side. 

Skidding 'round the turn gave me such a fright; 

It’s no fun to navigate these icy roads tonight! 

Oh, slip and slide, slip and slide, tires spinning 'round—

Up the hill, around the curve, all the way to town. 

Oh! Slip and slide, slip and slide, it’s a scary ride. 

All I want for Christmas is a brand new four-wheel-drive!

    
I sing it all the time. It keeps my spirits up and reminds me good things are often born of difficulty. At the edge of discouragement, on the brink of despair, I found inspiration.
    
A new four-wheel-drive this year for us is a financial impossibility. But next year . . . I can always hope—right?
     
As I light the third Advent candle, Father, I think of the many things in life that need fixed. You sent Your Son to make the biggest fix of all—to fix a broken relationship between You and us. Thank you. Amen.

Special-Tea: Read Isaiah 61:1-2; Matthew 11:4-5