Mercy in the Middle

This year has stretched me. Too many plates, stacked too high, leaning at a precarious angle. Doomed to fall over, crashing down, breaking in a million tiny pieces. Threatening to break me. The last several months have been a blur of back to back therapy sessions and specialist appointments, hard diagnoses, conflicts in relationships, hardships for those I love. Not to mention everyday life: balancing obligations, dealing with sibling squabbles, preteen angst and toddler meltdowns, finding a healthy balance between work and rest, just to list a few.

I know I’m not alone in this. We all face struggles and hardships. We each experience seasons where we are stretched to our max. At some point or another, we all feel like our plates may come crashing down, threatening to break us. In these times, we could all use a soft place to land. To find rest from our worries, relief from our weariness.

My heart has felt restless, anxious over many things. In this stretching, in the mix of fear and uncertainty, I am leaning hard into the truth of who God is. My understanding rooting deeper into God’s love and tender care for me. In the middle of these challenges and hardships, I am becoming more aware of and depending more fully on His ever present mercy. Allowing myself to sit in the tension of uncertainty, remaining present in the moment, taking each day as it comes. His mercy meeting me in the middle of what seems like a mess. I am continually releasing all that I hold tightly to, laying down each burden.

Surrendering it all, I let go, falling smack dab in the middle of His mercy—the softest place to land.

Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”‭‭

Lamentations‬ ‭3:21-23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”‭‭

Matthew‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭NLT‬‬