The past year has seen deep hurting throughout the world, and sometimes it’s all too easy to feel selfish for remembering the microcosms of individual pain which form the bigger picture. And so the fallacies are all too relatable: thinking that God has forsaken me, to the point of self-deception — that to lean on others is weakness, whereas withdrawing unto myself actually weakens me further, not least since when feeling ashamed to come before Him what I most need is His light.
One of the many short sections in Lamentations 3 consists of verses 22-24, starting with the Lord’s great love as the reason behind His faithfulness, and ending with the resolution to wait for Him on that basis. New mercies every morning mean that we may suffer but are never engulfed by trials, never consumed.
Wondrously and paradoxically, God is constant in that His grace towards us is both refreshing and ever fresh. Who said that the journey entailed a straight road? Growth and progress seldom prove to be linear, although that myth is perpetuated again and again as each new year brings a host of unrealistic standards that we set arbitrarily. We need only ponder ourselves, the fact that the Spirit lives within us, to be reminded of how steadfast God is: Jesus’ death and resurrection marked the salvation that is always occurring in us.
Time and experience have revealed to me the cyclical element of certain habit patterns and disorders: it is crucial not be entirely dismissive based on part of the day not going well, for example, because before you know it a day, half a week, the whole week and so on have been “written off”, as it were, and one has ended up in a rut. That God is the God not of second chances but of endless ones is unequivocally true.
Though the determination of others to not let go causes friction with the internal temptation to do exactly that, I know that they, along with their care for me, are a huge blessing; palely reflected in them is the fact that God always pursues, to stand alongside and fight for us. “For no one is cast off by the Lord for ever”.
Like many across the country, I awoke on the 24th of January to find rooftops and flowerbeds gloriously blanketed in pristine snow. While rain is often seen to bring cleansing, washing the pain away, the purity of snow has come to symbolise just how powerful Jesus’ blood is in making us new.
God does not give up on us — let’s not, either.