When God Stops Speaking

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Sitting down to read the Bible can be a daunting task. In one sense, it’s so simple—open it up, pick a section, and read the words on the page. Except because it’s the Bible, we know that’s not supposed to be all there is to it. The book of Hebrews calls the word of God “alive and active,” but when I read it, sometimes it feels like it’s become lifeless and lethargic. It can feel like the way I’m reading the Bible is broken, and unless I devote every waking hour of my entire life to studying Hebrew and Greek and reading every commentary I can find, I won’t be able to really understand what God is really saying through the Bible.

It’s like God knew people would continue to despair over trying to understand the Bible, because In Deuteronomy 30, Moses delivers a word to the people of Israel, telling them, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach… No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it” (verses 11 and 14). The Israelites had recently left the land of Egypt where they were enslaved, and were on a journey to the land God had promised them—“a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Reading the Bible isn’t a journey in a physical sense, but it is a journey in other ways—a journey of discovery, a journey of transformation, a journey of learning about God and how he wants us to live. The task, like a trek to a new country, may seem daunting at times as we encounter passages of the Bible that seem to contradict each other, or that don’t make sense to us in today’s times, or that are worded in a way that seems fit only to confuse us. But as God worked to bring the Israelites out from their lives of bondage, he remains near to us today, actively working to bring us to him and to help us know him more. 

When we read the Bible, we’re not doing so in a vacuum, completely alone and abandoned—we read the Bible and God is with us as we do. It’s our job to read it and to use resources available to us to understand it, but the ultimate understanding and ability to apply it to our lives comes only from God. The more we spend time with the Bible, the more opportunities we’re opening up where God may speak to us. It may come in the form of a comforting passage found during personal devotions, or being convicted by a message from a pastor, or a conversation at a Bible study that brings newfound clarity. 

Of course, the opposite is true as well—if we continued to read the Bible for any length of time, there will inevitably be seasons where it truly feels like our way of reading it is broken, and that God seems to be sitting back and decidedly not helping us understand it any further. After Moses’ assurance that the Israelites were capable of carrying out the commandments he had laid out for them, the Israelites spent the next few hundred years proving him wrong. They broke, if not every single one of the commandments, most of them. Because they tried to be obedient out of their own strength instead of relying on God’s power to enable them to obey him, they were unable to fulfill what God told them to do.

Without God, we don’t have the ability to continue reading the Bible consistently and having it always speak to us in vibrant and applicable ways. Instead, we must remain faithful to the task without despairing when we stumble over difficult sections, trusting God to illuminate it for us in ways we cannot—and in ways we may not see for some time. But, because God is who he says he is and does what he says he will, we can know, even in those seasons where things aren’t making sense, that God is at work speaking into our lives and shaping us to look more like him.

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]

Wrath and Chocolate

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]


While baking the other day, I licked some stray cocoa powder off my finger (I’m comfortable with my less-than-hygienic baking practices!). I was expecting the usual, all-together chocolate experience – the sweetness makes the bitterness just right - rich and complex. I was abruptly reminded that cocoa is unsweetened! Thanks to some quiet time in the Old Testament prophets, the cocoa incident made me think of God’s wrath. 

If someone asked me to describe God, I’d probably talk about His love and grace, His mercy, and His faithfulness. It’s not likely that I would burst out with, “God is so awesome! He avenges His foes, and will not leave guilty people unpunished!” Those things are very true, and in some circumstances they would be very comforting. But generally, God’s wrath makes us a bit uncomfortable, right? I want to describe God in the ways I would like people to describe me. My anger is not a good thing, and I’d rather not have it in the description. Sin always seems to be tangled up in my anger! My anger is selfish and prideful; it rises from out of the hidden impatience and jealousy that lurk in the still dark parts of my heart. God’s anger has none of those issues, because He is wholly good. “No one is good – except God alone.” (Mark 10:18) He is not like us (Psalm 50:21), He is perfect, completely without sin.

God’s wrath is nothing like mine.

Just prior to the cocoa incident, I had read the first chapter of Nahum. The first six verses are striking, a fog-horn-loud reminder of why we need God’s grace and mercy! Here’s a quick sampling: “…the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath,” (v 2) “…the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished,” (v 3) and “Who can endure His fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him.” (v 6)

In my particular printing of the Bible, these verses nearly claim the entire first column of the book. One lone verse is set apart below: “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble.” (Nahum 1:7) The first time I read through the verses, I skimmed over this verse – compared with the less-familiar terrain of God’s wrath, the declaration of His goodness seemed commonplace; but it’s not! Nahum is sharing about God’s jealous anger and His righteous vengeance. Then he is inspired to write, “the LORD is good.” All of the anger, vengeance and punishment discussed in these verses can be trusted in God’s hands, because He is good.

As I stood with my unpleasant tasting cocoa in my mouth, I thought of how without sugar, chocolate is hard to swallow. If I did not trust God’s goodness, His wrath would be hard to swallow. It’s the totality of God’s character that makes Him holy and righteous!

When Jesus is our Savior, we can rest knowing that God has a merciful plan for the wrath that we deserve (…and we do deserve wrath – check out Romans 3:9-20). Romans 3:24-25 (NIV) says, “[We] are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood…;” an alternative translation of verse 25 says, “God presented him [Jesus] as the one who would turn away God’s wrath.” In God’s goodness and love and justice, He sent Jesus to take the wrath we are due. God is so good!

Pastor Dirk mentioned this week that God’s wrath comes up more times in the Bible than His love, yet God’s wrath is never absent of His love. God’s wrath is never like unsweetened cocoa – bitter, divorced from His love, only wreaking havoc. His wrath is a part of His love. “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) I can trust God’s wrath – even when I don’t understand it, or don’t have any idea what He’s working out – because He is good, He is light, and He is love!


[Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, including humility and patience.]

God's Love > My Love

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Every day after school my grandfather let me have the tallest stack of Oreos. He would bring me fancy pastries from the bakery, and let me get ice cream when we went out to eat. On birthdays and Christmas, Grandpa always gave us cash, which is strangely cool when you’re eight (or eighteen). Once when I was older, he confessed that he never thought he would live to see his grandchildren, and he just loved to see me smile.

I loved my grandfather’s love  – he was wildly generous and never said no.

When I was young and unfamiliar with struggle and suffering, I pictured God’s love like my grandfather’s – that He just wanted me to smile, and so He would make my path all sunshine and rainbows.

Photo Credit: Flickr user Torben Hansen, Creative Commons

If I try to understand God’s love from my own human understanding and experience of love, I will miss it.  My love is so human – it’s often self-serving and self-protecting, usually reciprocal and measured; my love is careful and simple.

God’s love is so much more. God doesn’t love how I think He should or how I expect Him to – He loves according to His character, according to who He is. Certainly God’s love is sweet and tender, gentle and patient. His love is also furious and jealous, relentlessly seeking my holiness over my happiness; it’s fierce and overwhelming as often as it is tender and gentle. He loves me just as fiercely in the stormy seasons as in the rainbow-filled ones; the rain and the sunshine are both products of His grace.

The Bible often addresses God’s love directly: God’s love is so wide, long, deep and high, it surpasses all knowing (Ephesians 3:18-19). He loves us even though there is nothing about us that makes us love-worthy (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:37-39). He loves us when we are still sinners, completely unable to approach His holiness (Romans 5:8). He loves us so much that He made a way for us to come near and have a relationship with Him, and to live with Him eternally, through Jesus, His only Son, who paid the debt for our sin on the cross (John 3:16)! There are verses in Psalms that speak to the nature of God’s love: it is unfailing (13:5), it reaches to the heavens (36:5), it is priceless (36:7), it is better than life (63:3), His love is good (69:16), it delivers us (86:13), it stands firm (89:2) it supports us (94:18).

In other places, scripture speaks to God’s love descriptively, narrating stories that show and explain His love. The prophets spoke of God’s love for Israel in metaphors and pictures, like a bridegroom loving a bride (Isaiah), and like a husband tenaciously loving a wayward wife (Hosea). Jesus’ love is tangible when He heals the sick (for example, Luke 5:12-16), graces sinners with unimaginable favor (Luke 5:27-32, Luke 7:36-50), and brings the dead back to life (Luke 7:11-17, John 11:1-44). Jesus even explained His love using parables, like the stories of the lost coin, the lost sheep and the prodigal son (Luke 15).

The entirety of the Bible, the grand story from beginning to end, reveals God’s love: He desires to be with us, and though we push Him aside and attempt to go our own way, He knows we will be ultimately unfulfilled without Him. So He provides a way back at great cost to Himself. Though we live through stormy days, He is purifying our faith (1 Peter 1:6-7) while we wait for Him to come and claim His bride.

God’s love is entirely too much to be caught up in a few words, in one verse, one story, one book. Even if we search the entirety of His Word and live one hundred years walking with Him, we will only know of His love in part (1 Corinthians 13:12). It’s too much to be defined, nailed down, categorized, labeled, or charted. It’s unpredictable. It’s unexpected. It’s wild and untamed. He loves us to our benefit, He loves us sacrificially (John 3:16), He loves us knowing the whole story and our part in it (Ephesians 2:10, Romans 8:28), He loves us too much to leave us a mess (Hosea 14:4).

God’s love is not always comfortable; it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it’s gritty, and fiery and decidedly uncomfortable. But no other love will bring us to wholeness and maturity or offer any motivation to truly love others.

God’s love is so much greater than our love. As He shows us His love, let’s strive to love others with love like His.

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

[Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, including humility and patience.]

Why You Shouldn't Volunteer at Church

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Churches need volunteers. This isn’t exactly a secret. At Encounter, volunteers brew the coffee, play instruments and sing, teach children, host Bible studies, collect the offering, and so much more. Without the many people who do all these things, the day-to-day operations of Encounter would look very different—arguably, Encounter as we know it would cease to function. 

Photo Credit: Flickr User Anton Sim, Creative Commons

As crucial as volunteers are, though, I think there are some compelling reasons why you should not volunteer at Encounter:

1) You should not volunteer out of guilt.
2) You should not volunteer if you feel obligated to.
3) You should not volunteer if you’re trying to earn grace. 

Galatians 2 tells the story of when Paul and his companions Barnabas and Titus went to Jerusalem. Some false believers had infiltrated the ranks there, trying to, as Paul puts it, “spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.” These false believers were telling Gentile (non-Jewish) people that they had to be circumcised in order to follow Christ. They were stuck on the rules, and were trying to insist that others follow their rules as well. Paul goes on to rebuke the Galatians, saying, “After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”

The Galatians were coercing people to act out of obligation, guilt, and the false belief that they had to act in order to receive grace. In reality, the Christian faith is built on the idea that we are incapable of saving ourselves through anything we do, which is why we’re so in need of a Savior. 

What can be done is to freely give of our time and energy as a response to his grace. Outwardly, the actions may look exactly the same, but the inward attitude makes all the difference. If we’re continually serving only out of obligation or guilt, we’re not living into the grace God has freely given us. We’re taking a good gift and trying to pay it back—which we not only don’t have to do, we can’t do. There is no magic number of hours volunteered that will “pay God back” for grace. It can’t be done. God doesn’t want his people serving out of obligation and guilt, but out of freedom as respond to what he’s done.

This doesn’t mean there won’t be times when it feels like we’re serving for the wrong reason. After a stressful week, getting to church early may not be first on the list of things we want to do. But if it’s a persistent feeling of obligation, guilt, or (perhaps even subconsciously) trying to earn grace, it could be time to step back and re-evaluate. Hopefully, with some prayer and reflection, God will change our motivations to what they should be—a response to what he’s already done for us. 

So I don’t think all the volunteers at Encounter should send in their resignation this week. There are a lot of really wonderful reasons to volunteer at church. You should volunteer at Encounter if: 

1) You are looking to respond to the work God has done in your life by serving others.
2) You have gifts that can benefit the community and you want to share them.
3) You are thankful for the grace God has given and want to give back as an expression of that thankfulness.

What other reasons would you add?

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]

Thomas and Other Doubters

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Thomas missed the disciples first meeting with the risen Christ (John 20:19); I wonder what held him up? Broken sandal? Tilted sundial? Camel trouble?? Maybe tucked in Thomas’s story is a side-bar about being on time for parties?! Regardless, God has some treasures in the story of Thomas missing that first meeting. Somewhere along the road of church history, he was bestowed the unfortunate nickname “doubting Thomas” and it stuck; now he’s the poster boy for doubting.

I have a feeling that “doubting Thomas” has made us subconsciously think that only one in twelve Christians suffer from doubt (and therefore if we doubt, we are in the minority). As if Thomas was the only one who had any doubts! If you rewind one week to the morning of the resurrection, all eleven were swimming in their doubts: Mary reported Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb, but the disciples did not believe until they met with Him later (check out Luke 24:9-11).

A glance back through the Bible will reveal more doubters to join Thomas: Eve, Lot’s wife, the spies of the Promised Land, Gideon, David and other Psalmists to name just a few!

Gideon struggled with belief somewhat famously - I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers a wet-fleece themed Sunday school craft. Defeating the Midianites was huge undertaking, and Gideon needed extra reassurance that he was hearing God, and that God was who He said He was! (See Judges 6-8 for his story.) David, the famous King of Israel called in the New Testament a “man after God’s own heart,” reveals his wrestling with doubt in many of the Psalms: 

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.” (Psalm 22:1-2) 

He takes his concern and doubt straight to God – he’s praying with those very words! But listen to how his heart shifts as the prayer continues in verse 19 and 23-24: 

“But you, O LORD, be not far off: O my Strength, come quickly to help me…You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” 

God turns David’s doubt to hope even as he prays. As Pastor Corey said on Sunday, “Allow your doubt to drive you to seek Him.” Gideon did. David did. (Other Psalmists, Asaph and the Sons of Korah, did as well; see Psalms 10, 42, 43, 73, and 77 for their examples.)

The Bible also shares the stories of those who tried to lean on their own understanding to remedy their doubt. Eve doubted God’s goodness in His command not to eat from one tree, and that doubt led her to sin. Lot’s wife doubted God’s command not to turn back to see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Ten out of the original twelve spies of the Promised Land doubted that God could conquer the land from the “giants” living there; they died in the desert with the rest of their unbelieving generation (Numbers 13-14, specifically Numbers 14:10-12, 20-23).

Gideon, David and even Thomas doubted just like us – especially in times of trial and struggle. But they turned to God with the doubt, and God is faithful! Eve, Lot’s wife and the spies doubted that God was who He says He is, and that He could do what He says He can do. Their doubt drove them to believe that He was far off, He would not help and that He was not good.

In Thomas’s story of doubt, we get to see Jesus’ immediate response. Jesus didn’t rebuke him, shame him, or call him out for not listening to the other disciples. We also should not feel shame or guilt about wrestling with doubt. Jesus provided what Thomas needed to strengthen his faith; He said touch, see, and have what you need to be sure of Me.  

Thomas was the last disciple to have his doubt turned to faith, not the only one. We all struggle with doubt, especially in times of trial and temptation. When we doubt on our own we ask, “Is He good? Is He here? Will He help?” but we are left with only our current measure of faith to try to answer. So, let’s have our doubt drive us to Him.

Instead, bring those questions to God and ask Him “Are You good, are You here, will You help?”* Pray for help with the unbelief. Let Him speak into the doubt, and increase your belief!

*These specific questions (and some of the background for these thoughts on doubt) come from a sermon by Matt Chandler called Trials/Temptations based on James 1:2-18 preached at the Village Church in Dallas on February 15, 2015. You can access that sermon on this page. 

How to Live Boldly for Christ

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

In Christianity, phrases like "Live boldly for Christ" are fairly commonplace. Yet I've never really seen a definition of what "bold" means when it's used that way. Does it mean selling all my stuff so I can give away all my money? Does it mean moving to Kenya to become a full-time missionary? Does it mean going to seminary and becoming a pastor?

If I don't do any of these things, am I a failure at living boldly?

Most of the time, we equate bold with BIG. What counts is the action, the big, dramatic things that make people take note.

Photo Credit: Flickr User Irwin Scott, Creative Commons

In 1 Samuel 13 and 14, we see the contrasting stories of Saul and Jonathan. Both act boldly, but in different ways and with different outcomes.

King Saul’s bold move was to offer a burnt offering. He was getting antsy waiting around for Samuel to show up to offer the burnt offering, so Saul went and did it himself—his rationale being that he wanted to seek the Lord’s favor before battle. Overall, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal, except he had been explicitly told not to. Instead of waiting patiently for Samuel to show up, Saul let his own misgivings drive his behavior. And, when we look closer at Saul’s motivation, we see fear and doubt that God could and would do what he said he would.

Jonathan’s bold move was to seek out what God would do. He took his armor bearer with him and headed to a Philistine outpost known to be dangerous, saying, “Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” (I Samuel 14:8) His goal wasn’t to make himself look good (because only he and his armor bearer even knew he was going), but to see what God would do—because Jonathan trusted that God would.

On the outside, King Saul’s action doesn’t seem so bad, and Jonathan’s seems perhaps a little foolish. King Saul was seeking God’s favor, and Jonathan was putting his life and someone else’s in danger.

Except these were merely outward actions. While Saul’s inside motives were not so great, Jonathan’s were—making his actions the ones that were bold in a good, God-honoring way. There are lots of bold actions that are great things to do, but if we’re doing them with the wrong heart attitude, they’re not good things at all. Being bold for Christ isn't so much about the outside as it is the inside.

For some of us, being bold might mean giving away all our money, moving to another country, or becoming a pastor—but for many of us, being bold won’t look like any of those. And if those actions aren’t accompanied by a trusting heart ready to be used by God, they’re empty, not bold at all. On the other hand, actions we consider commonplace or even “small”—showing up to work diligently, being a good neighbor, serving at the church—can be our way of living boldly.

In the end, it’s our hearts that determine whether we’re acting boldly for ourselves or boldly for Christ.

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]

Light in the Dark

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Photo Credit: Flickr user Jeff Babbitt, Creative Commons

I am often astounded by my husband’s ability to see in the dark. He claims he’s normal, and that there’s enough light from streetlights, the moon, clocks and other electronics to see the outlines of most rooms and furniture. When my contacts are out and my coke-bottle glasses are off, the dimness of night is equivalent to closing my eyes – my darkness is complete. It is inconceivable to me that he can actually see (and yet, he doesn’t run into nearly as many doors, walls and pieces of furniture as I do!).

I am regularly astounded by God’s ability to see in the dark. When we blindly stand in the complete dark of life, God stands in the light and knows just where we’re going. 

Pastor Dirk brought us Paul’s testimony this week out of Galatians 1:11-24. He had been zealous for God and His law as a Jew, until God interrupted with His glorious grace. Paul was in the dark, blind to God’s grace, when his eyes were opened (literally – see Acts 9); once he saw the light, he could do nothing but praise God and share the message of His amazing grace! In the letter to the Galatians, he testifies to God’s grace – grace that redeemed him to everlasting life, and the gracious act that was his personal story. Paul had persecuted Christians – he was wildly undeserving of God’s favor. But that’s grace: he was undeserving, but Jesus called him, loved him and saved him. He was graciously saved by grace.

Paul’s story is only one of many; Naomi was another undeserving person on whom God lavished abundant grace. Famine drove Naomi’s family from their home in Bethlehem to the foreign country of Moab. Her sons married, but then they and her husband died; Naomi was plunged into a different, difficult life. With no one to care for her and no hope of heirs, she left for home, filled with bitterness. Naomi was in the darkness. 

In darkness she returned to Bethlehem, but the rays of light began to break through. Ruth, her daughter-in-law (the only family she had left!) met Boaz. He married Ruth to redeem them, to provide heirs and restore their lives. Boaz and Ruth had a son and those rays of light burst into glorious, grace filled joy. The book ends with a family tree: Naomi’s grandson became the grandfather of King David! In 2 Samuel 7:16, God promises David a kingdom and a throne forever, which He ultimately fulfills through Jesus, the “Son of David” (Matthew 21:9). What a life redeemed by grace! 

In the middle of it all, Naomi’s darkness was quite complete; in Ruth 1:21 she says, “I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty…” Naomi could see nothing in her darkness. But God could. Without the difficult season, the King would not have come through her line. God was preparing for a greater glory. He was laying the groundwork for the Savior, and revealing His own role as Redeemer!

I’m tempted to look at Naomi’s story the way that we look at our own stories; ready to point out and proclaim God’s grace and salvation at the end, but forgetting that He was there all through the dark. He didn’t show up when Naomi and Ruth met Boaz; but perhaps that’s when He was revealed. God was there the whole time, seeing in the dark where Naomi was blind, knowing His plan for her good and His glory. Psalm 139:12 says “Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night as bright as day…” Even when my darkness is complete, God is enough light to see everything!

In our own testimonies of God’s grace, aren’t we tempted to lean the same way – to know His grace and glory when we are headed toward those rays of light, but to forget His grace and sovereignty when we are on the way down or wallowing in a dark night of the soul? We talk about the times when God rescued, the times when Light broke in and swallowed the dark. We skip the confusing part where we stumbled or fell or were cast unaware into the pit – it seems too difficult to explain how or why God would put us or let us go there. All we see is the dark, but He sees the plan. And by His grace, He brings us out on the other side, transformed evermore into the likeness of His Son. (2 Corinthians 3:18) By His grace He invites those circumstances into our lives to shape and mold us, to prepare us for the good works He has had ready for us since He formed us! (Ephesians 2:10)

”He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.” Daniel 2:22 NIV

[Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, including humility and patience.]