Everything is going to be okay

By: Carole L. Haines

Certain times I wake up with an elevated sense of dread. Some would call it depression, others PMS. Whatever it is, there seems to be times when my inner worries, fears and doubts rise to the surface and I am very weighed down by them.  King David described it this way:

The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.
(Psalm 25:17 NASB)

Enlarged means to broaden, to grow large, widen.  Aren’t there times when we just can’t seem to keep our worries at bay. Like a Lion tamer, we stand over them and crack the whip; but to no avail, they won’t be tamed. There are times they seem to take over our minds, our hearts, our emotions.  I woke up that way this morning, turned to my husband and said, “Can you tell me everything is going to be alright? It’s just nice to hear it from somebody else, besides myself.”

In the midst of him telling me how wonderful God is, I realized that it was unfair for me to ask him to make it all better. He can’t, I can’t. My husband, in his God-given wisdom, directed my thoughts to the only One who can actually tell me that it’s all going to work out alright. There’s a lot of changes swirling around our lives right now, impending change, and change that has already happened.  There’s not a sense of the “everyday routine I had gotten so used to.  But change is good, like the oceans stir up the sand and shells as they crash against the shore; change stirs things up. Quite frankly, we all need to be stirred up by change, so that we don’t become stagnant. Ponds that have no inlet or outlet, grow green with algae. One of the things so amazing about Rivers, is that the waters are never the same. You can dip your foot into River and have Last Winter’s snow flow over your toes.

Sometimes we need to hear somebody tell us that everything is going to be alright. Bob Marley sings about it in his songs. Our loved ones hug us, pat us on the back and speak these comforting words into our ears. But the only One who can truly speak this into our souls, is God Himself; because He’s the only one who can actually make it true. When the troubles of your heart are enlarged, sink deep into Him.

⁵ The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
⁷ I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
⁸ I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.

(Psalm 16 NASB)