I was chatting with my friend last night and we were talking about life's curve balls and how the more challenges we go through, the stronger and more resilient we become. She had recently experienced a break up with her boyfriend and had literally not seen it coming - she thought they were both really happy. Suddenly she found herself living back with her parents in a different city to where her current job is, with no idea what to do next.
Life definitely has a way of throwing us these curve balls when we least expect it, taking us off guard and feeling lost and bewildered because we didn't see it coming and we don't know how we are going to make it through what has been lost or taken from us.
I really love reading the psalms and passages in Isaiah which talk about God's restoration of our lives and our hearts - He truly cares about all that we go through and wants to heal us during these difficult times.
Psalm 23 v2 and 3 - 'He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength...' and Psalm 84 v 6 and 7 - 'When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. They will continue to grow stronger,...' contains beautiful imagery and language that expresses God's desire to not just get us through these times but to bring us out actually stronger than we were before.
Thank you Ally for this beautiful reflection. It is impossible to avoid those 'curve balls' you mention and equally difficult at times to know how to 'direct' or to 'bat' them away from harming us .... to keep the tennis/ball analogy going!!
The two Psalm readings that you refer to are very revealing. There is a sense of making 'our dwelling place' once again - 'restoration' as you rightly say - and that being a place of true compassion and nurture, a fresh understanding of the 'living God'. Thanks again!