No.Matter.What.

There is so much heartbreak surrounding me, sometimes it feels suffocating.  So many people I care about hurting, confused, wrapped up in brokenness.  So many words hurled like weapons, so much death and sickness and disease...it feels impossible.  Then I lift my eyes beyond my circumstances, my family, my day to day life and I read about Saeed Abedini and although I have never met them my heart hurts for him and for his wife and for their children.  I read about all of the people who lost siblings in car accidents right before thanksgiving...there were so many this year.  I read about a mom who lost her little girl and is now devastatingly heartbroken...on and on it goes.  Sometimes I get stuck in the act of looking around and taking stock of everything that I forget the one thing that is needed.  The one thing that is a lifeline to us when we feel like life is overwhelming or hard or even hopeless.  The one thing I can do for others when I see them hurting and there is nothing I can do to lift or help bear the burden. 

Prayer. 

This morning when I was reading my Bible this stuck out to me :
It is from Zechariah in the 8th chapter verse 6
"This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says : All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God's people.  But is it impossible for me?  says the Lord of Heaven's armies." 
If you go back and read the whole book, you see that God is promising restoration after His nation has been brought to task for their sins.  But when I read that passage it made me think about all that seems impossible right now.  Some due to my own sin, some due to other's sins, some due to just life happening and hurts unfolding.  It seems so impossible.  Impossible that God will restore.  Impossible that God has retained a remnant for Him, despite the sin that abounds.  Impossible that He can indeed bring good and lovely out of devastation and hurts.  But then I stop, I ask "Is it really ever impossible for God to do anything?"  I mean look at Israel.  His people, His heart.  He has through the ages been faithful.  No.Matter.What.

I am not sure what your walks with God are like, but mine is two steps forward, five backward.  It is so easy for me to read the Bible and see what needs to be done, to agree with and believe the Word, but then when life happens and I am gripped by something like fear or worry or anxiety or hurt to actually pray and ask God show me this is not impossible for Him and then rest in that prayer...that is hard for me.  Because I have realized that while all things are possible for Him, not all things are His will.  That is the hard place to fall on.  That is the hard truth to grasp.  That is where trust comes into play.  This is where I learned that it is essential for me to have a good solid grasp on the character of God.  He is faithful, He is just, He is good.  All of the time good, all of the way good, completely consumed by good.  Good intentions, good actions, good thoughts, good everything.  He.Is.Good.  Even when it hurts, He is good.  He is full of mercy.  He is love.  He is life.  The very breath I breathe, the very substance that sustains me.  He is. 

So no matter where you find yourself today I challenge you, I challenge myself to pray and say, "God I believe You when you say nothing is impossible for You." and then to rest right there.  No 'but' tacked on, no worries creeping in, no looking around you and wondering. 

No.Matter.What.