Big Questions with Messy Answers
I tell myself this is a good thing—being kicked out of my own house for a few hours. If I wasn’t such a homebody, I might be happy to leave the house. Not only do I rest and sleep at home, but home is where I work, and where I eat. Can’t I work from anywhere as long as I have my computer and internet? Absolutely! But my desk is where the calming candle burns, where the coffee with steamed almond milk tastes better and costs less, where my office chair keeps my back happy, and where the lack of distractions allows inspiration to flow freely (well, most of the time). Home is where my special food lives, too. For someone with out-of-the-blue food intolerances, grabbing a quick bite to eat on the way somewhere is quite an undertaking.
It’s my own fault, though—being kicked out of the house. I chose to look for a new house. I wanted a low maintenance house that would be considered downsizing as I live and work on the main floor but also big enough to contain two teenagers along with their friends and games relegated to the basement. I opted for a newer house and pushed to put our house on the market. So now I am sitting in a borrowed conference room with no clean linen or jasmine scent and only water as refreshment. Every noise stops the flow of words, sometimes for entirely too long.
Am I uncomfortable away from my own precious home office? Yes. Is it a big deal in the grand scheme of things? Emphatically no. But what about when we find ourselves in an uncomfortable place not of our choosing? How do we handle a bad report from the doctor after a routine checkup? How do we respond to the loss of a job, a demotion at work, a job interview that yields no fruit? What do we do when faced with a car accident, an empty nursery, an aging parent with a degenerative disease? How do we go on after a broken relationship, a relative who turns away from the faith, a betrayal?
These are big questions with messy answers. But where do we even start when we find ourselves in an uncomfortable and painful place not of our choosing?
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Does this mean that all things are good? Unfortunately, no. But the verse does say that God works all things together for our good. In the meantime, we can cling to the following verses.
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So, while I am working in this borrowed conference room away from my comfortable home office . . . and more importantly, when I am faced with uncomfortable and painful circumstances not of my choosing, I will place my faith and trust in Christ, knowing that God is working all things together for my good and nothing can separate me from His love.
