DAYS GONE BY

Nostalgia rips most at me during those times of utter regret. Those are the moments when you reach the mid point of some valley and look back and wonder why the trip was necessary in the first place.

At present my wife and I are in the middle of a very long and difficult valley. Sadly it started out as what we thought was going to be a very unexpected blessing. Now it is lingering in a wasteland of confusion and uncertainty. What is adding to the stress is knowing that in the end this valley may not only end with sadness and heartache, but with and added burden.

It would be impossible to reach this point and not feel exasperated by why we had to endure this valley. For us a presumed blessing turned into a burden in no way is a welcome detour.

How often we have looked back in our lives to other occasions when we were the victims of some evil or sin. And it has always been a source of extra pain that no only is there never an upside to the valley in terms of a happy ending, but those who caused us the pain never seem to end up suffering in the process.

If one is honest you can’t go through such heartache and see the person responsible for the evil go unpunished and not wonder where is the Lord? A thousand riddles of why sing in the soul and mind. Countless are the questioned lifted up to which only the wind is the reply. It leave one wounded to the core, emotionally destitute and ill equipped to attempt to expect a better horizon in some future moment.

I wish I had the insights to share a sensible explanation for why such things happen to so many people besides my wife and I. From the scriptures my own home and assurance of God that “the just shall life by faith.” It does say, the just shall life a perfect and prosperous life. It doesn’t even say the just will life a happy life. Only those who are redeemed or justified in the Lord’s eyes will life by faith.

I believe in a just God. I believe in a loving Savior named Jesus Christ. But I know he will not dry all out tears until we are in his presence. How many people I’ve known in this life that have prospered in their evil. I’ve also known too many who harmed others and lied about it to avoid facing the guilt of their sin.

I do know that when standing before God such lies will not avail them. They may have the delusion of their blessings in this life. But it will hardly be a comfort in eternity if it has come at the price of the crown of salvation.

Those might be trite words in the eyes of some. I cling to them for the only source of comfort I can find as solace when the moments of sorrow rain on the soul like a storm. I pray for God’s strength not to take away all the heartache, but to grant me the peace of enduring. Along the way I will always pray to that he will grant us the mercy too of a life with more that sadness. Regardless of the weather as long as our Savior’s light touches our souls we won’t be left to merely feel of the affects of storms.