December 14th, 2018

One of the hardest things we will learn to do is push forward thru pain and conflict. There are circumstances in life that leave us feeling paralyzed and broken. Relationships, jobs, finances, expectaions, disappointments....you name it. We live in a fallen world and life can be messy and hard. In a world full of emotions.....the only thing we can can control....the only thing I can control is myself and my response to my circumstances. What a powerful devotional this morning....

Did you notice that Mary Magdalene didn’t wait until her circumstances changed before she got moving? Jesus was still dead as far as she knew. But she got up and moved forward anyway.
And where did she go? Yes, she went to the tomb, but there is more. She went back to the last place she had seen Him. Perhaps that is where you need to go today. Go back to the last place you encountered Jesus. Even if it is still dark. Even if you are still in a dark place. Even if a seemingly impossible imposing boulder of disappointment is blocking your dreams. Don’t worry about moving the stone. God’s good at that. You just keep putting one faithful foot in front of the other and let God take care of the rest.
Oh, what we miss when we make camp in the painful place of disappointment and refuse God’s invitation to continue the adventurous journey. We miss the moments of sudden glory when our eyes are shut tight because of discouragement, and our hearts are bolted fast with despair.
Never allow the weight of discouragement hold you down or lower your expectations of the life in Christ. Get up. Get moving. Open your eyes. Open your heart. There’s more to experience just around the bend.

Wow. Wow. Wow.
I can’t help but to think about Mary. She still got up and went to the tomb, not knowing what she would find and to imagine the pain she had to be feeling. To have just watched her Savior....crucified. To have witnessed first hand what had been done to Him. Beaten, humiliated and murdered. Yet even in her pain, she would seek Him. What a lesson to be learned. How different our emotions could be if in times of heartache and sorrow we seek Jesus, rather than letting our emotions control us and have outbursts that do us or those around us no good. I still have so much work to do, personally, but thanking God that he is not finished with me and patiently waits for my visits❤️