Several years ago – 2005 to be exact – I heard an interview with Rebecca St. James. In it, she mentioned a difficult time that she had gone through. She cited several facets of her painful storm, and then she made this statement: “It was literally like every single comfort zone in my life was taken away.” I bring it up here because her words came to my mind as I attempted to capture the way I felt regarding my recent difficult chapter of sickness, followed by excruciating physical pain.
What is an example of a “comfort zone” that I felt was “taken
away”? Well, I have already mentioned
how I couldn’t write anything for a period of time, due to it hurting too much. You can tell how important of an example that
is from how often I’ve mentioned it. I’m
happy to be able to return to writing again, even though there is still
lingering pain as I do so. But another development
also occurred; to be honest, I feel a little uneasy about sharing this, but it’s
another legitimate example, and it’s authentic.
So here it is.
During my recent illness, I decided to stop drinking soda
pop. I realize this may not seem like a
big deal to you, but I used to drink this beverage almost every day, since way
back to when I was a small boy.
Sporadically, I tried to have a few sips but it would only give me a
headache. So I knew I was going to have
to give it up. After nearly four decades
of drinking pop, the thought of being without this comfort zone actually caused
me to mourn. You may want to tell me
that I’m better off without it. While I
admit that you are absolutely right about that, it was still a sad development
to me.
Let me return to that interview with Rebecca St. James
for a minute. She had been through a
fiery trial. But she went on to state
that she had reached the point where she could look back and thank God for it
because of the valuable lessons the Lord had taught her through it. I am able to echo the same thing regarding my
recent trial as well.
Furthermore, the biggest point I’m trying to make today
is when it seemed as if “every comfort zone in my life was taken away” to quote
Rebecca again; when all I could do was cry out to God just to get through the
day, I discovered a valuable lesson. This
was something that I knew intellectually but now I know it experientially: when you have the God of the universe by
your side, you have everything you need!
In conclusion, I had a mental scene of us chatting about
our various troubles. And you said to
me, “Kevin, I’m glad you are slowly getting to be on the mend. But, the fact of the matter is I’m going
through a very hard trial myself.” You
would then proceed to share your woes.
If that’s the case, please know that I am empathetic to your plight. I hope you are helped by this quote from
Corrie ten Boom. She once said something
that I had not heard until I came across it in preparation for today’s blog
content. She observed,
“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you
don’t throw the ticket away and jump off.
You sit still and trust the engineer.”
I want to encourage you – and I continue to remind myself of this – when
you don’t know which way is up, and all you can see is the dark, trust in God.
Kevin
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