A Rare Opportunity

A RARE OPPORTUNITY

By: Julie Souza Bradley Lilly

We are living in strange times.  If you are like me, you keep waiting to wake up from this dream.  And the anxiety of the unknown can have us searching for comfort and security in a decidedly uncomfortable season.

We all struggle with self-medicating in one form or another—the things we do to soothe ourselves when under stress.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying our blessings.  However, when our dependence upon God and thankfulness for our blessings are exchanged for a dependence upon our blessings and mere thankfulness for God, we lose our peace.

Toilet paper runs out, jobs dry up, banks fail and, sadly, people die.  When our trust and dependence are invested in temporary things, our peace, hope and comfort disappear when they do.

We have been given a rare opportunity.  This strange intermission is a gift of time to examine and rearrange our hearts—to put things back in their proper places and regain our peace.  We get to decide, again, which things to pull forward, which to push back and which no longer deserve a place at all.

Beloved, are you lacking peace?  Might it be because where you have been looking for it in the wrong place?

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

Father, we run to You.  We throw our full weight into Your merciful arms.  Comfort us in our fear.  We shift the burden of our dependence from the shoulders of others to the broad shoulders of the One who holds the universe in His hands.

Lord, thank You that the worst of times can become the best of times, when we cling to You through them.  We rest in the palm of Your hand.  And when this season is over, may we emerge stronger and wiser, because we have learned to draw peace and comfort from You.  In Jesus’ Name ❤️

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