Reflections on "Captivating" #3

     In post #2 of this series, I wrote about the fall of humanity and how it led to the wounded female heart. Most can agree that this idea is true to an extent. But upon further inspection, it is apparent that this wound translates into our lives in the form of major life challenges such as the death of a loved one, the end of a marriage, or the loss of a job. These are all moments that lead us into a feeling of despair, the moments that cause us to become angry with God and questioning Him as to "why" we are faced with such hardships. 
     I cant speak for everyone, but I always despised when people would try and make me feel better about something by saying, "This is all in God's plan." What kind of a god would allow something so terrible to happen to me? I've come to realize the answer to that question is simple, a God who loves us more than we could ever imagine. 
     I wrote earlier about how we have a habit of trying to find satisfaction in earthly things - our jobs, our possessions, our relationships, etc. We all know from experience that they can bring us incredible amounts of happiness. But, we also all know deep down (although we may not like to admit) that the happiness is limited. Something always goes wrong. Our job becomes difficult and we lose interest. We lose or break our possessions. Our relationships that were once perfect cause us to feel lonely and unloved. Why does something always go wrong? We led ourselves to believe that these earthly things could bring us the same amount of happiness and satisfaction as God. We were setting ourselves up for disappointment by appointing the job of indefinite satisfaction to finite means of entertainment.
     God uses these times to shake us up. He "blocks our attempts until, wounded and aching, we turn to Him and Him alone for our rescue" (Eldredge 97). God works in a gentle and mysterious way by disrupting our plans. He brings hardship to whatever it is that we have sought life apart from Him. (Eldredge 98). That right there is why something that at once felt so perfect and unbreakable can feel shattered and beyond repair sometime later. 
     We should not fail to recognize that it is during times of hardship that God is most present. As soon as we allow ourselves to really know this and believe it, our lives become so much simpler and worry free. We start to realize that when God breaks us, it is only because He's trying to reform us and build us even stronger.