Are you passing through deep waters right now?  If you are, I’m under there with you.  I’m not at liberty to talk openly about my afflictions, but they are heavy, serious, and draining.  Recently, they have intensified, and in this desert place I have been driven, once again, to the Fountain of Living Water.

And He fully satisfies.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19

I am not always driven to Him.  In the past, I have been driven to despair.  To bitterness.  Then I’m left, not only with the pain of circumstances out of my control…but also to the pain of fighting God.  To beat the breast of the One Who wants to comfort me…never brings me comfort.  To disbelieve Him in the middle of the trial never brings peace.

But when I surrender…ahhhh…that’s a different story.  The pain?  Still there.  The circumstances?  Still totally out of my control.  The darkness?  Thick as ever.

But He is there with me.  And I rediscover His Grace for this moment…He is REAL, He is HUGE, and He SEES.  He knows exactly what is going on, and He is not wringing His hands in frustration…wondering what to do next.  He knows exactly what His next move is…and when it will take place.  His design for me is perfect, and falling into place perfectly.  In the surrender…the letting go…is REST.  And PEACE.  And best of all…real COMFORT.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

I watch for all the whisper quiet ways He reaches for me throughout the day.  Everywhere I turn, I feel His nearness and see His Hand at work…doing miracles.  It comes through His Word as I pray for my children in the morning.  It comes in a praise song on Sunday morning.  The word of a friend after church.  It comes in a passage that I read during my quiet time.  A song on the radio when I’m driving to the grocery store.  It comes in the middle of a restless night after waking up from another nightmare, when hot tears erupt sudden and unexpected…releasing tension and bringing bitter-sweet relief.  He is there.

For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Isaiah 49:13

I’m going through different books of the Bible right now…one chapter at a time, journaling what God is teaching me.  Yesterday was II Corinthians 1.  I notice that Paul often greets and ends letters with the words “grace” and “peace”.  Usually I just skim over all that “grace” and “peace” stuff.  I want to get to the meat of what Paul wants to say.  Not yesterday.  Yesterday those two words popped out at me in all their profundity.  Oh, for “grace” poured out in this moment.  Oh, for “peace” to wash over my spirit.  Grace and peace.  Paul wishes these things for his beloved.  And God gives them to His children when they yield to Him. 

God is a “Father of mercies” and a “God of all comfort”.  Mercy and comfort.  Don’t we need that?  God IS that for us.  And this chapter teaches that as we find all our comfort (relief, well-being, help, solace, contentment) in Christ, we will then be able to comfort others with that SAME comfort Christ gives to us.

We must “patiently endure” our sufferings.  Paul says he and his companions were “utterly burdened beyond our strength, that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.”  That describes how I have felt in recent weeks.

So WHY did God allow this deep, dark pain to come into their lives?  “…to make us rely not on ourselves but on God Who raises the dead!!”

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-3

So I am trying daily to surrender one moment at a time to His loving choices for me.  And I remember that “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!” (Psalm 126:5)  That verse reminds me of one of my favorite Bible heroes, Joseph.  He “sowed in tears” for years.  Many long, weary years.  One setback after another.  And it was all part of “The Plan” of God.  A grand and glorious plan in which God would be exalted in the hearts of nations….because one man was faithful to Him, trusting Him completely in the darkness of slavery and imprisonment.

You and I?  Just simple Wemmicks.  Sometimes suffering according to the will of our Creator.  Will we see our sufferings from the perspective of the dung heap?  Or will we walk up that hill to our Creator…take His hand…and see it all from HIS eternal perspective?

From up there…the view is breathtaking.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)