My dad got me a cast iron skillet for Christmas and along with a BINDER he’d printed on how to properly use and care for it. For several months, it sat on my stove, unused because I was so nervous to use it (Ridiculous, I know, but if you’d read the binder…).
Finally, one day I decided enough was enough. I chopped up an onion, preheated the cast iron and let it sizzle up. Guess what? It smelled amazing and it WORKED. I even got brave enough to put a pound of hamburger in it and make some tacos.
(And then I washed it, dried it in the oven and oiled it before I put it away. Because The Binder made me do it.)
I’ve been thinking about my cast iron skillet and the silly fear that held me captive.
Sometimes when we live with sorrow, it takes a push to do something new. Though it can feel like we’re moving past our grief and severing ties with what we’ve lost, it may be just what we need to pull us into the next right thing. Yes, it’s scary to stare straight at the thing that’s on the periphery. But small steps give us courage to take bigger ones.
This is what it means to live in the intersection of hope and sorrow.
In this strange tension of life and loss, we don’t want to move on. If you’re like me, you just want to nestle in and protect yourself from anything else that may happen.
Surviving is a natural response to our grief, and it’s necessary. But I certainly don’t want to spend the rest of my life simply surviving each day.I know that’s not what Jesus desires for us.I don’t want fear to keep me captive.
Psalm 84 says this: “When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains.” God’s people knew suffering. They fought and failed, stumbled and grieved. Yet His message to them did not change— He is a God of redemption and rebuilding. He took their tears and made them into pools of blessing.
But first, they had to walk. They didn’t sit in the valley of weeping… they walked through it, in all the rain and mess and muck. After they survived it, they saw pools of blessing. Somewhere along the way, surviving turned into thriving.
I won’t pretend to know where you are on this journey today. But can I gently whisper to you that I believe God has more in store for you than to just simply survive your sorrow? The fear is real, the grief is real, but you have a Savior who promises to give you exactly what you need to make it through each day. One shaky step at a time, He will lead you.
Maybe it’s something small, maybe it’s something big. Whatever it is, grab on to it when you see it beginning. Let Christ do His work in you, and watch His glory be revealed. It’s impossible to get stuck in your grief if you’re doing something new. This is where hope and joy are found.
I’m with you, cheering you on.
[Photo by Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash]
