Some years ago, I remember sitting on the floor of our master bedroom, struggling with disappointment. (The floor was, and still is, often the place I would sit when I wanted to spend time with the Lord.) I was leaning up next to the wall, thinking about all the hard stuff my husband and I had recently walked through and was continuing to walk through: an untimely and unwanted transition from our ministry positions, financial uncertainty, wondering if we should sell our home since we would soon be unable to afford it, and a struggle to see what the Lord was doing in the midst. I was bummed. Really bummed. All I knew to do during that time was to dive into my secret place with the Lord. I didn’t always have a prayer or a song….sometimes I just sat with Him and cried.
On this particular evening, I had the most unusual experience. I sensed the Lord was laughing (in my spirit). I was perplexed. Why was He laughing? Didn’t He know my feelings had been hurt by everything that went down? Didn’t He know my dreams had been dashed? Didn’t He know how embarrassing this whole situation was for me and my family?
Still He laughed.
And then I realized that He could see the road past the bend. He knew the glorious things He had planned for us, and it was bringing Him great joy. He wasn’t laughing at my sadness (and in reality at that point it could be more described as my private pity party); He was laughing over us. He was laughing for how He was planning to demonstrate His goodness towards us.
Something shifted that evening. His joy released strength into my heart. His laughter gave me hope…hope that this transition wasn’t the end; hope that this transition was just the beginning of beautiful things.
This encounter didn’t necessarily mean my disappointment disappeared immediately. It didn’t. But my outlook began to be infused with a hope-filled expectation that good things were coming.
And in God’s timing, they most certainly did.
“Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
Nehemiah 8:10b
"The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
Zephaniah 3:17
Hello Tami Flick. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am also blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you and about your interest in godly things and your love for the Lord Jesus Christ and then your husband John and kids Ellie and Robert. Give my warm regards to them. Through your own experience you have shared about how God can change my outlook that is infused with hope-filled expectation. I am truly blessed by your post. I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged,strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 40 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai to work with us during your vacation time. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends also wishing you a blessed and a Christ centred rest of the year 2018. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede.
ReplyDeleteHi, Pastor. Thank you for reading my post. So glad you were blessed. Thank you for the invitation to minster in Mumbai. We have no plans to leave the country and travel to India this year. If we that changes, I will let you know. I will pray for you tonight! Blessings!
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