Mourning to Joy
What has God done with your past mourning?
Verse of the Day
“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy”
Today’s Devotional
God provides. Not usually what we want, but definitely what we need. We all have situations in our lives that cause mourning, grief, stress, or worry. Some of those things are just the natural result of living in a broken world with broken humans. On the other hand, I believe God allows hard situations to come into our lives because he desires to teach us something. He is trying to capture another piece of our heart.
I believe God can take any situation and make it beautiful. I see that clearly in my own life. I had chronic migraines for years. That caused lots of mourning. The foster/adoption journey was incredibly stressful. I prayed earnestly for relief from each of those situations, plus many more. My prayer was for relief. My prayer was NOT, “please allow me to survive this in Your name so that I can use my experiences to serve others who are struggling with similar difficulties.” I was not smart enough to pray that prayer at that time. But even still, God answered the prayer I didn’t even know to pray. God gave me the strength to survive each of those hard seasons. God allowed me to learn from each of those. He taught me that I have an incredible intolerance for physical pain. He taught me that certain things, while incredibly difficult, will not actually kill me. He taught me to go to Him for comfort. He taught me that loving someone unlovable is what He does for me continually. He taught me that some (if not all) problems are too big for me to conquer without Him. He taught me the value of surrender. He taught me that ALL of my past experiences can be used for his glory and the good of others that I can help.
I will admit that all of those lessons are ongoing. I have not mastered any of them. But God has given me the clothing of joy, through each difficult season. I get to choose each day whether or not to wear the joy that He has provided. I can choose to commiserate with someone else who is suffering in one of these areas. Or I can choose, if I wear the clothing of joy that God has given me, to share my story, my hope, and God’s provision. The joy that God has clothed me with is HOPE for others. Hope that God is who He says He is, and that God will move in our lives if we seek Him and His will. I can see and share the times in my life where there was mourning and God has now brought joy. If I am mourning over a different situation today, I can choose to trust that God will continue to be faithful in today’s difficulties just like He has always been in the past.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Where in your life is there mourning?
In what situations, which used to cause mourning, is there now joy?
How could God use your current situations of mourning for his glory and the good of others?
Ask God for His will in your situations of mourning today.
Can you trust Him until there is joy, even if that joy does not come until you meet Jesus?