I'm delighted to introduce Rachel Taylor. She's is a pastor’s wife, a mother of three children and founder of Mama Did It, helping women work through the process of motherhood and enjoy the journey. I hope you'll read her post leave leave a comment and drop by her website.
I thumbed through the book I was reading all the while feeling a bit numb on the inside. Then a verse jumped out at me. It was Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.” I paused and thought, “But then why do I feel like I am lacking so much? Lord, I have lost people I deeply love. Things look a way that I never imagined they would look. Why does life look like this? I feel so lonely.” With that, I closed the book and went on about the day. My mind kept rolling though. God was obviously highlighting something in me that I didn’t realize was there.
What about you? Have you asked God for things that didn’t happen? Prayed prayers time and time again that didn’t seem to be answered? Did things happen that knocked you flat off of your feet? Have you experienced such crushing pain and loss that you didn’t know if you would even make it out alive? I feel your pain dear one.
Yet, it is in the grief filled moments that the Lord makes Himself known to us. We can’t always see the way or understand why things are going the way they are. But it is in these times that the Lord asks us to simply trust that He will indeed work it for our good. It is in these difficult times that He shines His light on the next step we are to take, and continues to do so, until we are free. Sometimes I forget that Jesus experienced rejection and grief too. Everything I feel, He also felt. There is something comforting about that. Knowing that I am not alone in my pain, even when I feel alone in it.
Within thirty minutes of putting my book down, I opened the Bible app on my phone, and I laughed out loud. The verse of the day was Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I lack nothing.” I closed my eyes and said, “Ok God. I’m going to trust You in this. I’m going to trust that even though I feel like I am lacking, that it isn’t true. My feelings are lying to me because you say that you are my Shepherd and I lack nothing.”
Circumstances didn’t automatically change, but in that moment, I knew God had me, and He would give me everything I need. After all, He has proven Himself trustworthy in my life time and time again. So, I breathed in hope. I breathed in peace. I aligned my thoughts with His thoughts, and I whispered to myself once again, but knowing it to be true this time, “I lack nothing.”
Rachel Taylor
mamadidit.com