Hello

I know, I know, it has been quite a while. And the question that is likely on your mind: And where exactly have you been? A valid question, indeed.

I’ve been here, there, and seemingly everywhere, all while being based in the same place. And how exactly is that possible? Well, I guess that is the beauty of life. If you live long enough you’ll find yourself in those moments when it seems like you’re moving in fifty different directions at the same time, whether being pulled there, propelled there, pushed there, or some manner of force in between. You’ll find yourself leaning toward one direction while seemingly moving in the opposite direction.

So, what do you do when that happens? Well, that is what I’ve been trying to figure out over the last few years, at least in part. When change began to rear its many heads simultaneously from multiple directions and angles and life began to look and feel more like a game of wack-a-mole than a simple, straightforward existence, I did what I knew to do. I took a step back.

Surely something was going on that I didn’t understand and I was aware enough to know that figuring things out and navigating through it all was going to take a source of power greater than my own.

Now, I’d like to be able to truthfully say that I immediately took all of my concerns to Jesus the moment things started to feel a bit topsy-turvy, but the truth is that I didn’t. I sat with the chaos for a while, trying to figure out what I had done that was wrong, what wrongs others might have committed, and anything else that I might have overlooked that could have led to that bountiful box of “the unexpected” being dumped into my already delicate life.

I mean, within a span of a few months, my health was suffering, my heart had been devastatingly broken, my father and other loved ones transitioned from this life suddenly, I lost a job that had been a steady source of income, and it felt like my mental health was balancing on a single, precariously placed thread.

I needed help, y’all. And I needed it quickly and thoroughly.

You see, the thing was that I knew that Jesus was Whom I was to go to whenever life was doing its thing. But, I don’t know about you, when craziness starts to show up I tend to freeze inside and go into survival mode, seemingly forgetting the very scriptures that remind me to cast all of my cares on Jesus, to lean not on my own understanding, and to rest in God. It’s as though my brain was immediately and thoroughly emptied, leaving me with just enough residue to recognize that something was wrong, something was definitely missing.

Thankfully, though, I was not in it alone, despite there being moments when I felt alone. God really was there with me, showing His presence even in the small things.

So, I’m here today because He was there then, and He is here now. And I encourage those of you who are going through some things to look for Him in both the big and small of it all. He is there. I promise you that.

And those of you who aren’t yet in the midst of challenges, remember this when challenges come, because they always do. But He will always be there to meet them with you. #lovebythedrop