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.

God sent Jesus into this world and then to the cross at just the right time. Your eve will come as he wills it, but he is here in the midst as your hope now. What is it he has for you as you wait? He doesn't waste anything. The pain, the struggle, the waiting. He uses it all.

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.

Joy and loss are both possibilities on our journey. Guarding against one because we fear the other is not truly living. The only way I can continue to move forward is trusting in the truth of who God says he is and whose he says I am. The only way to push fear aside is with the hope I have in Christ.

I believe his promises to me. I believe He is good. I believe that his love for me is fierce. I believe that he will waste none of my pain and will use it to make me stronger for the rest of my journey. And I believe that he is still writing my story, complete with beautiful chapters of joy.