I hear a lot of talk these days about getting back to normal.
When everyone is vaccinated, when the virus is over, when people are back at work, when everything opens……we will get back to how it was, the ‘good old days’.
I remember a time in my life when all I could think about was getting ‘back to normal’. Our daughter was ill, my mom had suffered a stroke, we were dealing with the aftermath of a serious injury, jobs were changing, and all I could focus on was fixing everything to get back to normal. The days were scary and frantic; I wanted normal.
In the middle of the chaos, I felt God nudge my heart. A clear thought surfaced – there is no such thing as normal.
WHAT?!
I wanted normal. I wanted the sickness and the pain to go away. I wanted pre-stroke. I wanted pre-injury. I wanted my life back!
God, though, in His wisdom offered me the day. He offered strength. He offered grace. He offered peace in the storm.
Day by day and moment by moment, He was changing me. I could not go ‘back to normal’, because I was becoming a different person than I was when everything began.
Every day, God was teaching me that He is enough.
Today, I know that we will never return to ‘normal’ – whatever normal is. People who go through difficulties and trials are changed, forever, and that can be a good thing.
We cannot recapture normal,
but we can catch today.
Today,
we have access to the God of the Universe through His Son Jesus Christ. We have redemption and grace. We have His love to get us through, and the offer of His peace in the middle of the mess. We have opportunities and people who need a smile or a kind word or a helping hand.
We do not have time to waste on longing for the illusive normal – the past that looks better in hindsight than it may have been.
Let’s lay hold on today, whatever its challenges, and move forward in faith.
Ephesians 3: 20 Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Photo – Smiling Pansies, Beth Mims
GraceSpeak 
Beth, we seek the “sameness” and “normality” of life without challenges, don’t we – I know I do and have done so. But, in our journey, sameness and normal aren’t really transforming. What a great devotional!
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I do like my comfort zone, and it seems that God is always urging me out of it.
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Beth, what a beautiful reminder. I needed to hear this today and will certainly save it to remind me in the future.
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I am praying for your continued healing. 💕
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Looking backward to the “good old days” is often a function of selective memory. Some of those days were just old and not all that good Thanks for the reminder that we have to look forward!
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Sometimes we miss the blessings of today trying to recapture a past that is only in the memory. Thank you for reading, Pastor Pete!
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Thanks for the picture of the yellow pansies! They look so cheerful!
The pastor of my church said in his sermon that God is always looking forward.
I agree with Pastor Pete that some of the “good old days” weren’t as good as we’d like to think. I look back and through every decade that people say are the “good old days”, there were always problems of some kind, upheaval even. If it was good for some people, it wasn’t good for everybody.
Thanks for this reminder, that there is no “normal”.
Blessings to you.
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I love those pansies! They make me smile every day! Blessings to you, friend!
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