What Happens When Everything Falls Apart?
Sometimes, no matter how much effort, planning, organization, building, collaborating, communicating, time, or money, everything just seems to fall apart. I hate when this happens. It drains my energy. All I want to do is crawl under my heavy covers, put my earplugs in, and go to sleep. I need the rest. I need to be restored. When I decide to crack open my shell and test the waters, I am timid, quiet, and afraid of failing again. What if it all comes crashing down again?
The truth is that it will. On some level or another, failure will happen. Dinner might get burned, white clothes will mysteriously be turned pink, a client will be lost. But every moment is an opportunity for learning. If it all falls apart, what can we learn from it? If it all goes just as planned, what can we learn from it? Proverbs 20:24 says, “The LORD has determined our path; how then can anyone understand the direction his own life is taking?” (GNT) Sometimes, what we have planned is not what we are suppose to be doing. It might not be the right time, it might be with the wrong people, things might not be as ready as they need to be. Looking back, I have seen so many times in my life where I thought everything was falling apart. What was really happening was that the Lord was tearing down what I needed to get rid of so that He could build what He wanted in my life. This has happened more times than I care to count. I forget to hear God’s soft whisper about his desires for me and I continue on the path that I have made for myself.
“All I want to do is crawl under my heavy covers, put my earplugs in, and go to sleep.”
I have a tender heart but a 20 foot concrete, rebar reinforced protectant barrier between my skin and my heart. If anything gets through that barrier, which isn't too often, I am wounded. I feel like failure totally bypasses my protective barrier altogether. I know from experience that one grows from failures far more than they grow from their successes. Blah, blah, blah. I don't feel like I grow under my covers, hiding from the world. Yet, under those covers, with my earplugs in, God is with me. He is comforting me. He is whispering past the earplugs loving, comforting words. Healing words. Supportive words. Putting salve on my wounded heart. Readying me to face the failure and allow Him to work it all out. I see what happened like a mass of clues, one written out each on one index card. I had laid them out on the table, moved them around, solved the clues, and put them in the order I thought they were suppose to go. I wasn't listening to the whispers of the Lord telling me what the clues actually meant and where to put the cards. So, He had to step in and mix them all up again so He could put them in the real order in which they are suppose to go. Ouch.
So what happens when everything falls apart? Allow it to fall apart. Rest right in the middle of the storm. Feel the wind, the rain. Hear the thunder and crashing of trees. Know that you are still safe in the middle of it. You will come out on the other side. To come out on the other side better, stronger, you must rest, watch, and listen. When you rest, the Lord will do the work. When you watch, He will show you how to rebuild and move forward stronger. When you listen, you will learn how to move forward and succeed. His Word tells us that He wants to bless us, to prosper us in all we do. But usually, we are our own worst enemy. I know that I am. I get in my own way far too much. But that is a story for another day. Right now, I have to figure out how to get out from under the covers. God has plans for me.
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