Times of difficulty

Times of difficulty often reveal the things on which we are dependent. When we are stressed or feel an acute need for comfort and security, we often turn to activities or habits that help us cope. Some of these may be entirely harmless and help us deal rather effectively with our troubles, while others are not healthy at all, either on a physical, emotional, or spiritual level.

This past week has been a time of great transition for me. New surroundings, people, customs, another language -- it's been difficult to adjust to the reality that this is my new home. I'm having to get used to living with only one person – me – rather than the two adults and three children in the home from which I just moved. I also miss my girlfriend a great deal, and while talking on the phone with her is a consolation, the fact is that I miss being with her. All of these things together, then, intensify my want for comfort, and even familiarity. Eating-out and shopping have thus served as forms of therapy.

But then I am reminded that someone is in my presence who has been familiar with me since even before I was born. He provides therapy by way of love, healing, and inner peace. He knows my weaknesses and strengths, what I am and am not ready for – and He knows that I am ready for a time of training and ministry in Montreal. I am often dependent on things that bring only fleeting comfort. But, thankfully, in the evening silence of my apartment, He reminds me that His presence and His comfort are, in fact, eternal.

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
-- Job 1:21