Have you ever said, “I’ll never…” and later found yourself knee-deep in that exact “never”? Besides saying to my parents, “I’ll never live in Georgia.” (my home for the last 15 years”, I told my children on more than one occasion, “divorce will never be an option.”

Uncertainty is where we are living right now.

Some of us are navigating the challenging new landscape annoyed at the inconveniences - toilet paper shortages, face masks, and wondering if Starbucks will ever reopen its doors. While others are frozen in fear and simply can't seem to move forward. Then there are some of us whose lives have been ravaged by the death of a loved one.

Treasured. This word, this concept has taken up residency in my heart and mind recently. What I’m discovering is that it has always been there. Even more, it was purposefully knitted into the fabric of my being from the beginning.

“you knit me together…” Psalm 139:13

He’s that good. The kind of good that is beyond what we ask or imagine.

I remember standing at church on shaky legs, tears streaming, pushing the air out of my lungs to sing the words, “God is so good.” My voice, I’m sure, would have been barely audible had the music been silenced. But I sang it.

More than anything, we want to be loved. Not just loved, but known completely and still loved. Loved without trying hard, without impressing, without being the most perfect version of ourselves possible. No make-up, bad hair, yeah, but even more deeply.

What if your story, however, was out of your control? What if someone else's choices turned your story upside down? What if a dark plot twist was inserted into your story unexpectedly without your permission? Maybe you were betrayed by another character. Perhaps an unforeseen enemy entered the story and now the ending you were counting on is no longer an option.

You're standing in a valley too; it's dark, but the slopes rising up on either side are not the consequences of your own choices. They're the painful loss and grief created by someone else's.