“I’ll praise in the valley
Praise on the mountain
I’ll praise when I’m sure
Praise when I’m doubting
I’ll praise when outnumbered
Praise when surrounded
‘Cause praise is the water
My enemies drown in”
I’m not sure how many other people came to game night tonight that was honestly grumpy about life and didn’t want to go. (Hi, that was me and Isaac by the way). But what I do know that as soon as I told him it was ok to be grumpy but we were going to greet people and see what God does anyway, my heart shifted. Guysssss… this is WHY we have a COMMUNITY!!! The instant someone smiled at us and greeted us, my kids lit up! They ran off and I was rushed into a game of volleyball. Then the rain came and it was then that everyone kept saying “it’s just a little rain”. Over and over… it spoke right to my heart because when Tyler and I go through hard times we try to ground each other by acknowledging that “it’s just a little rain” and we will still stand. I know we weren’t alone tonight in needing games and fun and a “something” to go do when it was so tempting to isolate in the cage of our minds.
It takes courage to be around others when we feel like we’re hauling around a duffel bag full of “yuck”.
It takes a first step. Call the person that’s on your heart. If my friend hadn’t called me when I was on her heart, I wouldn’t have verbally processed that I was struggling with obeying the call to get out of the house tonight. She had no idea and didn’t even say that I “should go”. She prayed for me about something completely different, but God used her in a way she probably didn’t even realize or intend to. You never know, guys. You just really never know how God will kindly shuffle you in the right direction.
At a time when I feel like I can’t do small talk, I can cry on a dime, a thousand storms of life are chipping away at my exterior, feeling like I need an inundation of encouragement and an abundance of grace, God comes and meets me. Through people… through community. This is what doing life together looks like. I only hope I can be as much of an encourager to others as others have been to me.
I told my little guy how proud I was that he showed up even when he was grumpy. I pointed out how God changed our hearts through it all. I also thanked him for helping me to be brave and obey God too. Man. God is just so good.