It’s not such a beautiful day…

Just yesterday, I wrote about how it was a beautiful day in Nokomis. And today, in terms of the weather, was even more beautiful. The kids spent a good chunk of time playing outside. And I didn’t even have to bribe them with more “screen time” in order for them to go outside and take advantage of this weather. It was that nice out.

But then everything fell apart.

Without going into too many of the details, I’ll just say that my evening was less than ideal. Among other delightful surprises, it was filled with:

  • A quick “there and back” trip to St. Louis…
  • In which I forgot my wallet and couldn’t get dinner for my “starving” children…
  • One of whom was crying much of the time because she felt carsick…
  • …And she actually did “get sick” twice on the way home…
  • And I got possibly two tickets due to traffic cameras when I accidentally ran a red light and then, at another intersection, pulled up too far to a red light, blocking the pedestrian walkway while I was flustered with everything going on

Suffice it to say, this was not my night.

And yet, now that I’m home and out of the situation, I’m okay. Sure, I’m a little anxious about the traffic tickets and what they’ll cost, but I know that those things won’t be my demise. They won’t take my life. Far from it.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

It’s quite a stretch to say that I walked through the valley of the shadow of death this evening, but this verse does illustrate the point that no matter what we go through, we don’t have to fear our circumstances, because God is with us. He will comfort us. He will strengthen us so that we can make it safely through the storms.

And this is most clearly seen through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Because Jesus walked through the valley of the shadow of death for our sin, we can know that we have forgiveness when we confess our sin and embrace our Savior.

Would I rather that every day was beautiful, with no troubles? Yes, of course. But experiencing troubles helps us to remember that God is there with us, to help us, and that’s not such a bad thing.

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