Good News... God is With Us and For Us

"So be truly glad!
 There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here...
YOU LOVE HIM even though you have never seen Him;
though not seeing HIM, you trust Him;
and even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself. " 1 Peter 1:6, 8   The past few weeks have been really hard for me.  I have felt the overwhelmed-ness of life around every corner, and the indescribable blessings of just being alive all at the same time.  For a moment I went deep down into a rabbit hole of sadness and overwhelmed-ness.  I know overwhelmed-ness is not a word but it is here today on this blog.  (It's my blog therefore I can make up words among other things when I want to.) Just try to stop me.  You can't so don't even try! Wait... I just told you to try. When I go places like down the overwhelmed-ness rabbit hole island I get quiet. *(It's a hole and an island, I can make up imaginary places here too) I read, I write, and I'm not ashamed to say, I watch a lot of Netflix. This morning I realized that it's time to come out of that rabbit hole.   Easter Sunday has come and gone and its message of hope has once again left it's residue on my heart. Although the rough things in life and the lives around me are still going on there is hope in the midst of it all.  The unshakeable knowledge of life after death is GOOD NEWS!! And all the sadness and overwhelmed-ness that this life can throw my way pales in comparison to the bright light of Jesus being alive!! He conquered death, and I'm pretty sure he knows how to pull people out of overwhelmed-ness rabbit holes.  The song of life is faintly playing and getting louder with every passing moment.  "When death was arrested and my life began" This good news of Jesus being alive is not something that is new to me.  He opened my eyes to see Him and all His glory and love many years ago, but sometimes I let the worries of this world choke out this "inexpressible joy that come from heaven itself"
I know after all these years that it's ok to go down rabbit holes of overwhelmed-ness.  I'm thankful that Jesus knows where to find me because he never left me.  He goes down those holes with me. He sails to the island that is me. He binge watches Netflix right beside me.  He is not a Savior who doesn't know how to speak our language or meet us right where we are at. So today "even though the going is rough for a while down here" I'm going to get up out of this hole by listening to the songs of life and reading the words of truth. "I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there too- your  reassuring presence, coming and going.  This is too much, too wonderful-  I can't take it all in!" Psalm 139:5-6 Turning our mourning into dancing  Our weeping into laughing Our sadness into JOY Inexpressible JOY!!