I was scared. No, beyond that, I was terrified: believing things that weren’t true and acting very out of character. Looking back on that time almost three years ago, it would be easy to question where God was. Why did He allow me to go through this time when I questioned everything and thought the world was ending?
The answer hit me the other day out of the blue as I was writing an article. He was in my words to the employee at the hospital, whom I told that “God is still faithful, even when I am not.” He was in the stained glass window of the chapel we frequently passed, which featured a bird in God’s hands. He was the Power that brought me closer to Him, after I had strayed before that time. He was always there. He never left.
I was looking at my grandparents’ memorial garden the other day, and noticed something white in one of the azalea bushes. It was a cheap, faded angel figurine which I had placed there a year ago. Just the thought of angels brings me comfort and I’m definitely keeping this one, even though it’s faded and dirty.
When I think of angels, I also think of words that I spoke and wrote during that time and the time before that. I made promises I couldn’t keep, and unwittingly put myself on a pedestal. This angel and the feather that sits on my living room table is a reminder that God can redeem remnants of those areas in which I was misguided. He can and does make beauty out of brokenness.
So what’s your story? It may not be symbolized by an angel or a feather, or even spoken words. Whatever it is though, God can and wants to use it. And if you’re wondering where God was when your story happened, know that He’s right there, just waiting to comfort and heal. He never left.
