I sat across from my friend at her kitchen island as we discussed pain. She wasn’t feeling her best and I told her she could’ve cancelled our plans. She looked me in the eye and replied, “You can’t cancel life.”
I mulled these words over for a long time. It’s true. You can’t cancel life.
You keep on. Even when pain is deep and gnawing. When sadness feels engulfing. When death feels victorious. When words have inflicted wounds, penetrating deep.
You can’t always realize the depths of something until you begin to emerge. And while you can’t cancel life, sometimes you lose out on life.
But you know what I find interesting about the hard things and the deep waters we walk through? While we’d never choose them, we also wouldn’t undo them. It’s a common phenomenon that I’ve seen.
Ruth and Hannah and Abigail didn’t get to read their stories, all neatly typeset on the page, with wonderful endings; they would never know if it turned out well, any more than we get to. They were living life – just as we are. All they could do was press into life un-canceled, praying deeper, living faithfully. Women of the Word, yet unwritten.
{this is an excerpt from my post at Women Encouraged}
I’m grateful to share words over at Women Encouraged today. Join me over there to read the rest. Women Encouraged gladly welcomes you, friends!
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These are wonderful thoughts that I so badly needed to hear today. We are going through a deep, dark time right now and the way looks filled with more pain & confusion. I pray, wondering if it will make any difference in the outcome. But I know it will make a difference in me. That next-to-last line is perfect.
Prayers for you and sending hugs your way.
I understand the feelings of pain and confusion and I think most everyone alive battles these hard times. Life is full of ups and downs and the power of prayer is so much more than we can see, even when our prayers feel unheard. I so understand the questioning if prayer is making a difference, yet all the time clinging to believing it does.
A new year coming!!!