Facing Difficult Times

I came across a poem the other day by Susan Palo Cherwein from her book "Crossings: Meditations For Worship." It is a word of encouragement for those of us who have experienced loss of any kind:

"Difficult Times"

The hard part is trusting.
When life is overfull with sorrow songs,
When we fall into the deep pit,
When the forces of nature seem to conspire against us.
When the clouds gather in the west
When the fierce winds whip about us
When the rain pelts our bare backs
When our fingers bleed from extorted work
When our throats knot and beg to cry out.

When life is overfull with sorrow songs,
The hard part is to sing:
Glory hallelujah!

It is difficult to raise our voices in praise when life has thrown us a curve ball; when we have more questions than answers; when the darkness seems to be overtaking the light in our lives. However, our God promises that no matter what we are going through, God will be there and will travel with us.

There are many Scriptures that testify to this truth. One of my all-time favorites has to be Isaiah 43:1-3 which says "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

We can sing "Glory, hallelujah!" because we have a God who has promised that when we feel like we're drowning and we're in way over our heads, the waters of life will not overwhelm us. We can sing "Glory, hallelujah!" because we have a God who has promised that we can remain unscorched by the fiery trials of life.

Take heart, my friends! Difficult times will always be a reality in our lives. However, we have God and we have each other. That is most certainly worth celebrating, even in the darkest of times.