March 14, 2016

God Can Make A Way

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

-- Isaiah 43:19

Sometimes life throws you a curveball and you don’t know what to do or how life will ever be alright again. It’s in those times when we remember that God can make a way when we can’t see a way.

I told a wonderful young man that at church yesterday. His heart is broken. His wife has attempted suicide three times. The last time she was finally hospitalized but she’s home again. Still depressed. Still refusing to do anything that might help herself. Oh, and did I mention, she isn’t a believer.

I’m not sure how someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ, who doesn’t embrace the hope and salvation He offers, can make it. But I do know Jesus touches hearts through His Spirit. I know that He speaks works we cannot hear. And He hears our heart’s anguish cry when we don’t know what to say or ask.

It’s really impossible to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. He has tried to help his wife. Her mother is in from out of town and has tried to help her daughter. Doctors have tried to help. No one can reach her. Her two teenage sons are devastated. How much stress can one family take?

Quite a bit. I’ve learned that the hard way. But I’ve also learned that God is there when emotional devastation surrounds you. He carries you when you can’t take one more step. He comforts you when the pain seeks to destroy you. God knows what you need when you don’t know how you’ll even get through the next moment.

When I reminded him that God can make a way when we can‘t see a way, he gave me a half smile. He had walked outside on that beautiful Sunday morning and sensed God telling him that exact same thing. Then believe it. Hold on to that. God is sending you a message.

Too often we give up because we can’t see how life could ever be any different than it is right in that moment. Sometimes we are so focused on what we think we want that we don’t realize God has something way better planned for us. He will make a way and it will be the best way. Embrace it. Trust it. As hard as this season is, God’s got this.