Backwards Love

I’m coming to learn that so much of what makes sense in God’s economy is directly opposite to what I would consider the logical way. I pray for God to show me His love and am surprised, indignant, and hurt when instead of an ooey gooey love fest, I’m handed a trial, instead. I cry, scream, and yell, and wonder why I just can’t catch a break! How unfair is it that when I’m already down about something, I just seem to get kicked even more, leaving me feeling like I’ve been forgotten, abandoned, and forsaken.

Today, somebody needs to hear this: You are not forgotten. You are not forsaken. You have not been left alone.

I need you to stop and think about something that God has been challenging me with lately. Sometimes the trials are the way that God stops to love on us and remind us of His goodness. Before you tell me I’m crazy, hear me out. When things are bad and we’re seeking Him for something,  we can feel His love more so than at other times. On good days, we just go about our business and feel our lives are good. We throw up a few “Thanks, God!” prayers, but beyond that, we don’t see His hand nearly as close, because we think we’re okay without Him (hahahaha!). When things are bad and we seek God in earnest for an answer to our prayers, He draws us close, speaks to us, and allows us to see His hand through delivering us through the fire of our trials. The hard times remind us of the past hard times, and how God walked us through those over and over again.

This is not the way I would do things if God just let me take full control. And yet, His ways are always better. How do I know this? Because God can see what I can’t see. He knows that without the hard days, I wouldn’t know Him like that, and in knowing Him, be able to fulfill my destiny. I need the hard days in order to feel His love. Sounds a little backwards, right?

Take a step back and work on your perspective today. Just because something seems backwards to us, doesn’t mean it’s not working or even better than what we would consider “forward” thinking. God loves you. Sometimes it takes a storm to show you that.