How the Very Worst Day Can Be the Very Best Day

Recently I posted a blog entitled Is Self-Pity a Sin?  Several hours after publishing that blog I opened my email to see a short note from my employer of 11 years.  She regretted to inform me that as of the following Friday they would have no more work for me.

My first reaction was pain.

And then laughter.  Surely God was pulling up a chair next to me at the computer and saying, So, what do you think of self-pity now that you just lost your job?

This always happens.  Always.  God puts a new truth in front of me and then very quickly He gives me the opportunity to practice living that truth.

So I turned my sad, pitiful thoughts into thankfulness.  Thanked God for 11 years of work that allowed me to stay home with my kids.  Thanked God for really great bosses.  Thanked God that I’ve never been hungry a single day in my life.  I even thanked God for His provision for me in the future, even though I don’t really know what that looks like yet.  Through the exercise of being thankful I found myself saying, God you’re so good.  You’ve been so good to me.

After praying, I opened this blog post and read about Ann Voskamp’s experience in Haiti –her soul anguish over the poverty there.  I read about the pain she felt over seeing open sewage, malnourished children, and a teenager who couldn’t read.  I was overcome with God’s presence in that moment, as he showed me what “not having” really looks like.

I just lost my job.

But I am rich.

And God is good.

So there I sat, having received news that would make the worst day for anyone, and I was filled with joy in knowing God.  I was worshiping and loving Him with all my heart.

Is your day hard?  Maybe you’re a mom with preschoolers and you’re worn out?  Sickness has made several rounds in your household this winter?  You’re out of work?  Lonely?  Anxious about something?

“Rejoice in the Lord always.”  (Philippians 4:4  NIV)

“…I will say it again:  Rejoice!”  (Philippians 4:4  NIV)

What stands between us and having the very best day?  Our willingness to seek joy in the Lord in the middle of the worst.