If life is a disaster when you can’t have
everything just like you want it,
then life is a disaster most of the time.

I’ve been recovering from all-or-nothing thinking for quite a while now. I grew up thinking about life in a drastic sort of way. It was either perfection or failure (you can imagine how that one played out). I was happy or miserable. In dieting, I starved or over-ate. In effort, I worked hard or gave up.

Giving up is where I landed a lot. Because if life is a disaster when you can’t have everything just like you want it, then life is a disaster most of the time. So, why bother? Just give up, right?

I gave up on hobbies, dreams, goals, people…but somewhere along the line, God convinced me that I needed to learn to stay. In the midst of pain, it might seem like some things never change. When I get discouraged, sometimes I still look at myself and think, I’ll never change. My husband? He’ll never change. The silly arguments we have?  The differences we have in dealing with change or stress? The broken parts in both of us? How can we ever be restored?

Pain is a hope-destroyer.

On hard days, it’s easy to get discouraged. Pain tells us to quit. Pain says, I’m here to stay. Get used to me. I’m not going anywhere.

But God says:

• Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:18-19).
• He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:4-5).
• Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Today, on the Meet Me in the Middle Project, we are talking about how God works in us, in the middle, to restore us. In the same way that He restores our bodies, God restores relationships, hope, and goodness, in us. We are restored, in Him.

God is a hope-restorer.

We are promised: “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10). So, please join us! Check out our Lenten Curation today, In the Middle, He Restores.