Sometimes I look back at my life, the things I’ve been through, the people I’ve lost, and I get so upset because of how much I miss them. So angry because of how hard some things were. Losing grandparents, best friends, an ex boyfriend, a community to belong, and the opportunity to attend certain age-specific church camps. Going through seasons of depression, heartbreak, you get my point. But more recently I have realized that there have been far too many days that I have let these things bring me down and get in the way of chasing joy.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 12 says
“Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up, the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building. He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing, the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing. He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away, the time for tearing and the time for mending, the time for silence and the time for talk. He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace. What do we gain from all our work? I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us. He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does. So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.”
I still struggle when it comes to patience and recognizing that every season has a purpose, but this section of scripture gives me so much peace and hope. I don’t want to get too deep here, but I have lost a few people I never thought I would in the past few years and saying goodbye to someone still alive is one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do. Some of you can totally relate to that. It is also extremely difficult to accept an apology that you will never receive. But my point is that even though doing those things and dealing with the struggles of life can be extremely difficult and exhausting, it is essential to becoming who we are meant to be.
Everything in my life has led me to where I am now. My choices, my heartbreaks, my regrets. If I had done things differently or decided to just quit when things got hard, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I might not have met who are now the most important people in my life. I just think it is so important to hold onto these versus and to be able to recognize during life’s trials that God’s got this. He’s got us and in Romans 8:18 we are reminded that “The pain that [we’ve] been feeling can’t compare to the joy that’s coming.”
So, whatever you are going through right now I hope that you can find peace in that this season has a purpose. It might not make sense right now, but it will one day. Hold on to God and Hold on to hope. Everything is going to work out.
