Going Through

 This morning as I was reading, I found myself in Proverbs 12:13. It says, The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous will come through trouble. (NKJ) I first noticed that it did not say that the righteous would be able to avoid trouble. Instead, it says - we'll come through it. No one is exempt from trouble. If we are breathing, we're going to go through stuff. However, through is the key word for me today.

I remember sitting with my Daddy, who was grieving over my mom. She was not herself, having some form of dementia. She remembered us for a long time but eventually did not. Daddy was crying and asking why this had to happen to such a beautiful person. I just cried with him because I had no answer. Caregivers are often in some stage of grief, whether we are grieving over the person we lost through death or the one who is slowly fading away. Some of us grieve for the person we lost, even though we are still caring for their bodies. We don't usually understand the why of suffering, but we sure do get the suffering.

This verse stood out to me this morning, and I'm glad it did. It was a great reminder that we can't always avoid things, but we will always get through them with the help of God. I thought of a few of my Bible heroes and the things they went through - noted, they did not avoid the troubles - they went through them.

• Daniel went through the lion's den and came out on the other side.
• Paul and Silas went through being beaten and chained to the walls of a dark prison. But when they rejoiced and praised God - they walked right out.
• Joseph went through years in prison for something he didn't even do. Besides going through being betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery unjustly.
• Jesus went through the cross - He didn't avoid it.

These are just a few examples of those who went through - I bet you have some favorites of your own, right? Isaiah 43 is a reminder to us that God's taking us through our struggles. He says when you go through the waters - and when you go through the fire...He's still right there, making sure we are going through.

Today, I will remind myself that God is right here with me in my today. I'm not going through this alone, but I am going through. I will remind myself that God's not going to abandon me when the waters get too deep, or the fire gets too hot. He'll keep me in the middle of it all. My heart is in His  - I'll remind myself that I can trust Him, even for today. And that is my plan for today - trust Him through it. Will you join me?

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