Get Ready to Dance and Wear New Clothes

Alison, a blonde-curly-hair, motion-filled, sweet little girl, who lived six years was celebrated this weekend.  An artist painted her image on a mural in our church's indoor playground.  Though it's a picture, the image captured the revelation of God's unstoppable love in Alison's life, depicting an empty wheelchair with imprinted tiny footprints left behind as she made her journey to heaven.  It's a picture of the joy set before Alison.  Even so, there's unanswered "whys."

There are some who refuse to believe God until all the questions are answered.  But.

Part of walking in faith is being able to trust God when things don't make sense, when there's suffering without just cause, when desperation becomes normal, and when there's more problems than solutions. 

I've been reminded, once again, to look beyond the space and place we occupy to see there's a much bigger story.  The thing is . . . it's not easy to trust God . . . when it seems we're destined to live in the middle of a storm of impossibilities.

Consider. 
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
      You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy (Psalm 30:5, NLT).

The book of Psalms, at the heart of the Bible, describes the hard as well as the good places of life, clearly delineating the truth, God makes all things new.

God's promise is profound, "I will turn your mourning into joyful dancing and I will take your mourning clothes away, clothing you with joy."  

With God, there's more to the story than what we see in the moment, even death becomes life. Yes, there's times joy seems to be far away.  To see more, we must intentionally look away from our circumstances to see God is present and will make all things new, bringing joy out of the darkest places of life.

There's really only one thing to do today:  Get ready to dance and wear new clothes. 

Learning to Kickstart the day with joy,
Kerrie

(written by Kerrie Carlisle Palmer © 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)