fire and rain

Yesterday was in fact, a great day. Because of our nice little blizzard, I got to sleep in, drink and entire pot of coffee and then go in to a job that I absolutely love more and more every day. I came home for a low key night with my roommate because I've been feeling a little under the weather. I was seriously having one of those moments where I thought, "It doesn't get much better than this."

Granted, it was a simple, normal day, nothing notably different than any other, but I appreciated that about it. I then got a phone call late last night that turned that around a little. I won't go into detail, but I received some very sad and disheartening news, news I had also been expecting for the last few months. Needless to say, I lost a lot of sleep last night, not because I was necessarily upset, but because I was trying to make sense of it all.

Then I remembered a conversation I had with a friend just earlier that day. He asked me why Romans 5:3-5 was one of my favorite passages of scripture. I told him that I found this passage to be a great reminder that no matter how difficult our suffering or pain, we have to trust that God is producing something great out of us. Often times, we won't know what that is until long after the fact, but it is always part of his plan and that in itself is comfort to me. And in case you aren't familiar, may I introduce you to Romans 5:3-5...

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

So, I'll approach today with purpose, knowing that I don't need to make sense of things right now, but trusting that they're happening to produce something within me, and perhaps within the person that they impacted even more than me.

"Ask me now I'll give you the reasons my love with not fade, through the fire and rain..." -Mat Kearney