Praise Him for He is good, His love endures forever

there were so many sundays that i sat in church and heard about how God will bring us through the darkest of times.

there were so many moments that i was out figuratively in the wilderness, wondering if and when i would break through to the other side.

i would sit and believe in my heart that the dead would raise and that life would come back but never in a million years did i think it would be quite like this.




that i would know the joy of sitting in a church service and listening to a sermon "life conquers death" and hear "all suffering is temporary" and know in my heart that i had been delivered successfully out of my suffering.

two years ago i typed: never in my life has the gospel made so much and so little sense to me 

and now two years later i am a living manifestation of the gospel of the love of God.  a God who saw me in a very, very dark place and chose to let me continue to a place with no hope to display His hope to me.  a God who in His MERCY allowed me to suffer that I might know the full and deep joy that comes after when one chooses to follow Him.


I can't explain it logically to you all, I can't give an algorithm as to why it's true.  I know only the eternal hope that lives in my heart.  I know the beating heart that transplanted the heart of stone that existed before.  I know the grace and mercy that follow me in each and every interaction with my children. 

and ya'll, for the first time in my life, I get the joy.  I understand and feel the true JOY that comes from Him. 

May this day stand as a testament to future days when I don't feel it.  May this stone never cease to worship the consistency and faithfulness of our Father in Heaven.  and may my Hope in Him be ever on display.  For I have been delivered out of a pit of despair and now sit in a valley of peace.