I have to admit that after a fun weekend with family and friends at a Cycle for Survival event in Boston, I felt a bit solemn yesterday. The fundraiser had been a good distraction from reality, but yesterday I began sitting with the reality of losing a mentor this week, along with some things happening in the lives of loved ones, and in the world.

I have been studying Psalms this year, and I’ve noticed a five-part theme woven throughout them:

- Life will have its trials

- Call out to God in the trials

- Remember His steadfast love and faithfulness

- Trust God, no matter the circumstances

- Give thanks and praise to God

What I love about the principles in the Bible is that they aren’t just for David, Solomon, and the other writers of Psalms, or for the people in the other books of the Bible. These themes and principles are given for us to learn from so that we can put them into practice in our own lives.

The book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that “nothing is new under the sun.” Though the trials then and now may not be exactly the same, life has always had, and will always have, its challenges. Faith can help us through, just as it did those who came before us.

Faith is not the absence of fear, but the choice to turn to God in the midst of it as our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

I share this today in case your personal trials, or the trials in the world, are affecting you as they were impacting me yesterday. I invite you to join me to...

pause. breathe. pray.

May we follow the example of those before us and turn to God in our trials. May we remember His steadfast love and faithfulness in our lives and in the lives of others, including those in the Bible. May we trust God, no matter the circumstances, and be prayerful about what may be ours to say or do, beyond prayer, if anything. And may we choose to give thanks to God, not for the circumstances, but for the good that is still present in the day, in spite of them.

As Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl said,

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

May we recognize that space he speaks of and invite God into it, allowing His truth and wisdom to guide us through our trials, just as He has guided so many before us.

With love and hope,
Shawn

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!
I have overcome the world - John 16:33