Thankful for the Brighter Days

 

This Thanksgiving holiday has been very introspective for me. It's been six years since the darkest year of my life. And yet? Even though this year has brought its own burdens to carry and trials to deal with, as I look back, it has been a good year. 

It is easy for our minds to dwell on hurt and trials that we have dealt with. As a general rule, I don't "schedule" a time to sit and think about the hurts and trials of life, but as recently as last week I saw something as random as a license plate that sent my mind down memory lane. I was driving to my local juvenile detention center to do weekly Bible study, and instead of thinking about that night's lesson, I found myself drudging up old memories and hurts all because of a random license plate on a random car. 

Fortunately I caught myself, and "cast down (those) imaginations" (2 Corinthians 10:5). But it was a stark reminder of how easy it is to live in the shadow of past hurts. 

Yesterday, coming back from a local Thanksgiving Turkey Trot with two of my boys, we heard a song by Blessing Offor called "Brighter Days." In a nutshell, it talks about trials and the promise that we have that these trials don't come to stay, they come to pass. 

In the summer of 2017, I had numerous people who had experienced similar trials tell me to keep going, that it would get better - that brighter days would come. In the middle of the dark valley, it is hard to imagine that life will ever get better. It is easy to be consumed by the darkness. 

But yesterday, it hit me - these are the brighter days. I have innumerable blessings, if only I will stop to count them. (I know, that is a seeming contradiction!) I cannot even begin to describe these blessings. My kids are growing up into young men that love the Lord and want to do great things for Him. My relationship with them has blossomed and grown. My relationship and walk with my Savior is strong and He is teaching me new things every day through His Word. I have the incredible blessing of having been put in trust with the Gospel of Jesus Christ each week at detention center and I get to see souls saved and lives changed every week in a facility where darkness would like to reign. 

How dare I be so blessed? How good of God to be so good to me. 

So even though this year has had its share of hardships, the brighter days have come. If you are going through a valley of heartache, know this - the brighter days will come. 

We only have to be aware enough to see them.