When you’re slammed with negativity, anxiety and big emotions that consume you . . .

When your heart is broken and you don’t know how to cope, so you turn to things that will temporarily distract you, even though you know you’ll end up feeling worse afterwards . . .

When your house is as big of a disaster as your mind feels, and you can’t seem to find any order . . .

When a loved one is sick and you are drowning in fear . . .

When you’re doubting God’s goodness because if He was good, how could all of this be happening . . .

When your marriage is falling apart and you don’t know if there is any hope . . .

When you lose your temper, again, after promising yourself you wouldn’t . . .

When you feel like you’ve missed the mark, and question your worth . . .

These are the messy moments of life. The ones that feel like they could wreck you, or that they might bury you alive.

It’s during these times we have to stop and remember that God meets us here. Right in the mess.

He accepts us in the mess.
He loves us in the mess.
He wants us in the mess.

With Jesus, it’s not an “until you . . .” type of relationship. He isn’t saying:
“Until you get your act together, then I will accept you.”
“Until you fix your relationships, then I will love you.”
“Until you are better, then I will want you.”

No, He meets us in the mess. And His feelings for us do not fluctuate and are not changing. He meets us in the mess.

But He doesn’t leave us there. It’s typically not our first reaction to run to God when we are struggling, but it can be.

And if we give Him the mess, He knows how to redeem it. It might not be in the way we want Him to.

But it could be even better.

It’s in the mess that we need Him the most, and He is more than willing to meet us.

Use the messy moments as an invitation to really experience His love and grace.

Let the Redeemer do the redeeming.

This article originally appeared on The Unraveling

 

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