So maybe you're like me, and you realized that there are some parts of your life that make you think, "Hey, I didn't sign up for this."  We can probably agree that our lives aren't necessarily all good or all bad.  But have you ever noticed that they're also kind of vaporous?  Like a wind we thought we could harness.  

When I was a kid and adults would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always told them I wanted to be a veterinarian...because I'm obsessed with dogs, duh.  I also imagined that I would live with my husband and 2.5 kids in a nice house with a garden (Y'all, I can't be a gardener; I've notoriously murdered succulents for years).  Unless they're sadistic, no one fantasizes of living a life stained with ambiguity or suffering. 

 

Yet so often this experience becomes our apparent reality while we're stuck "between the waters."  When God separated the waters in Genesis 1:6-7, He created this vast expanse between the waters saturating the clouds and the waters filling the Earth.  The ancient Biblical authors poetically described the sky waters as the heavens and poetically used the earth waters (namely the sea) as a metaphor for chaos.  Because the ancient Hebrews were not a seafaring people, the sea represented everything to them that was untamable.  But can you see how this dichotomy of heavenly waters versus chaos waters perfectly illustrates our daily reality as 21st century Christians?  As people whose faith is grounded in the resurrected Christ, we know our true home is with Him in the heavens.   Yet until Christ returns, we're stuck waiting here on Earth, trying to navigate the chaotic waters of a deeply broken world.  Life can definitely be much harder than what we were expecting.  So maybe you're also like me in that you too have wondered how a good God Who claims to love us would appear to leave us confused in the chaos.
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Welcome to my blog, my friend.  Obviously, I don't have all the answers to these questions figured out, and I won't pretend to either.  But on here I will invite you to deeply explore our world with me through the lens of Jesus Christ and His Word so that we can wrestle these things out together.  I'll share my honest heart and my real life with you, and I invite you to do the same however you want to.  So far in my own journey through the ambiguity, I've grieved so much loss of the expected.  Yet I've also discovered such unimaginable beauty and joy wherever Christ has shepherded me.  Despite the consistent chaos I continue to navigate, at this point in my life, I can confidently agree with King David in Psalm 34:8 ESV when he says, "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"  As you wrestle with the Lord yourself, over time I truly believe you will authentically declare this too. 

 

So because we weren't designed to navigate this life by ourselves, why don't we do it together?  Every Monday I publish a new post so that y'all can be encouraged at the beginning of your busy weeks.  I pray that my own journey through the unknown blesses you on your journey along the way.

[A blog by Hannah Rachel Young]

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