Last October, I had just finished up a talk in Texas and was heading home, when I opened my Facebook newsfeed in the Dallas Airport. As I was scrolling through the latest updates from friends, I ran into something that completely shattered my heart, and filled me with hope all at the same time.
A friend of mine from college had posted a video of his sister (watch video below), talking of the tragedy she had gone through the week before of suddenly losing her beloved husband and being left to parent three children under three years old. As I heard her share so boldly and genuinely of God’s faithfulness in hard times, and as a mom and wife myself, I wept tears of brokenness coupled with tears of hope.
When you watch someone go through insanely difficult times, sometimes you catch yourself thinking: I could never walk through that!
But the beauty of these hard stories is that they are ALWAYS lined with nothing less than God’s amazing grace. There is no reason anyone should be able to walk through such darkness and be able to stand strong – and outside of God’s grace, it’s impossible, but with our Lord everything is possible. And the promise remains for them, just as it remains for you: when you walk through the fire, He will be with you. Nothing will be wasted.
So if you, like Brittany or like me and my family as I’ve previously shared, are walking through a dark time, I want you to read this story she wrote for TrueLoveDates.com – and then hold on to hope. Hold on to Jesus. You will get through this. The promise is yours for the taking. Be blessed. – Debra
PS. Please leave Brittany all the love and encouragement and prayers you can in the comment section. Let’s bless her by being an army of prayer warriors!!!!
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Seven months ago, my world turned upside down. My beloved husband, who was 30 years old, suddenly passed away leaving me a widow at 25 years old with 3 small boys. Not only did it bring the death of my best friend, lover, and father of my babies, it brought the death of many dreams.
We all have dreams – a picture of what our life will look like. Our hopes and the people and adventure it will include. But for most of us, our life has not resembled our expectations.
I grieve my best friend, the precious amazing man I thought I was going to be privileged with growing old with. I grieve the loss of my boys amazing Dad and the life we were to have raising our family together. I grieve the death of the future we had prayed and dreamed about.
So, I understand shattered dreams. It is hard, and it is painful when the life we longed for can no longer be, and is totally out of our control.
God’s goodness, purpose, and comfort has been the strength on which I can stand. Not my faith but the One I have faith in has been the foundation to stand on when the pain is too great to stand myself. As I am walking through this difficult journey of suffering, I embrace these truths which sustain me:
- LIFE IS STILL GOOD. God is the Author of our lives and He writes our story. It may not look like what we scripted, but it can still be good because the Lord is good. Even though we hurt with great anguish, we can know that it is being used for our good and His glory and He isn’t finished with our lives.
- NEW DREAMS CAN BE FORMED. Even if our story took a turn, and we feel like we will never recover from our pain, God has the power to grow new dreams in us and to use us for His glory as we yield ourselves to His will in this new beginning. The Creator of the Universe has the power to redeem the most hurtful things in our lives.
- THERE IS STILL HOPE. This world is not our home; it should never feel comfortable as it truly is a temporary resting place. Yes, there is wonderful joy we can experience here on earth, but it doesn’t have the power to fulfill the deepest longing of our hearts. Only Christ can fill that void. So when we place our hope in Christ, we can always have a reason to live.
- GOD CAN STILL USE YOU. This is not the final chapter in your story, it may look different than you imagined, it may stretch you more, but God will use you even when it seems like you can never recover. God uses brokenness to show that HE is the only One that can hold things together. He loves to show off His glory through the shattered places of our lives.
- ETERNAL HAPPINESS AWAITS. Eternity is around the corner, where ALL things will be made new and we will never long for something or someone. Our purpose will be fulfilled in every way in the presence of our Savior with no more pain, sorrow or tears, only wholeness. So whatever hurt we are going through now, we can find hope that this is only temporary and happiness awaits us in the perfect place for eternity with Jesus.
“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” Psalm 138:8
Brittany lives in Georgia with her 3 busy boys 3 and under, widow to her beloved Patrick, follower of Jesus Christ, blogger and singer. Her desire is for Christ’s glory to be shown through life’s pleasures and pressures. She blogs about her life’s journey at brittanyprice.com .
