When my husband was active duty, he would often be gone for days, weeks, and months at a time. I remember how hard it was to face each current deployment, especially as the family grew, eventually into 6 children. I found it encouraging when I realized that no matter how hard or how long the current struggle was, when it was over, it didn’t seem so bad as when I was smack in the middle of it. Three months, or a year, felt like eternity in the middle of it and the car breaks down, children get sick, you sprain your ankle, etc. but when it is over, looking back was encouraging to see all the ways our Heavenly Father took care of us and provided for us in our times of need. The joy would then outweigh the struggles.
As I look back over 2024 and all the challenges that it presented, I realize that many of life’s current most difficult struggles began a year or more earlier. In the middle of it all, it’s easy to get discouraged. My attention is then drawn to Psalm 3:3, “But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.”
The struggles of the past give us encouragement and strength to face the struggles of the future. Friends, you and I are not in this alone. Since the beginning of time humanity has lived through whatever we are currently facing. Let’s embrace 2025 and all it will bring, the joy, the sadness, the pain, the healing, or whatever else you are feeling. Find time to spend in the LORD’s presence and let Him lift up your head.
Suds & Stitches 