A New & Personal Lesson from a Familiar Verse on Mourning
I want to share a verse with you today.
I'm sharing out of my brand new Bible Chuck got me for Christmas. He’s super sentimental. He had it labeled, "Do Hard Things 2019" to mark the year we started our ministry!
Let's read!
“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy.”
Psalm 30:11
We have heard this verse a lot. God takes our mourning and turns it into dancing.
I prayed this verse over myself through my grief as we were going through our baby losses in 2015, 2016 and 2017, but I prayed it differently along the journey.
This is a verse that I have posted in my shower. (Side note: I recommend posting Scripture around your home!)
I saw the verse in the shower daily, and some of those days were very difficult. Whenever I read the verse, I questioned if we should put ourselves out there and "try again" for another child.
I didn’t want to experience pain, but I did want joy.
Deep inside, I wanted what only God could do.
God could give me joy. Not my circumstances. When I have read the verse in the past, I have interpreted it to mean, "God has ended my painful season and brought better days and circumstances into my life."
But can we have joy, even if our circumstances are dismal?
God can transform our mourning into joyful dancing. It is not anything that we can do.
I knew that my story may not have a happy ending regarding child-bearing, so I prayed,
“God I want to be able to say that my mourning was turned into joyful dancing, EVEN IF the ending of my story is not what I had hoped.” I began to pray that my mourning would be turned into dancing, not because my story ends well, but because of who God is and because of what He has done and the transformation He made on my attitude and heart.
And it worked. God continued to transform my mind and help me heal. He helped me remember that I can choose joy by choosing to focus on Him!
Maybe you’re struggling and don’t feel like you have joy in your life. God can transform your mind, and renew you.
This verse is all about what GOD can do, but we often make it about our circumstances.
Our joy is HIS miracle.
My story has a joyful ending to regarding child bearing. Emerson made it. That time consisted of lots of prayers, doctor visits, and tears, but he was born healthy!
Sometimes life is difficult, but that verse is still posted in my home. I see it and remember that God transformed my heart and gave me joy in the past. He will do it again if I ask Him.
Will you ask Him? ...not for the good circumstances. That prayer comes naturally. Ask Him to change your heart and mind!
He will change us through His Spirit and the transformation of our minds, not only through our physical circumstances.
Check out this video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/qepRDX8CEBA.