We live in a very broken world, full of very broken people, chasing very broken dreams. Sometimes, all of that brokenness can cloud our view of God’s goodness. My life has been full of praying for the perspective to see God’s beauty even in the ugliest of situations. This summer will be no different. I will interact with broken and searching souls in the red light districts of Thailand and lock eyes with children that know the deep physical pain of abandonment all too well in an orphanage in Cambodia. I can choose to see these situations and be angry and hopeless and defeated. Or. I can view these situations through the lens of the Gospel and be filled with hope because I serve a God who has so many beautiful promises for His children.
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.
isaiah 42:16
Since getting accepted and beginning to prepare for my summer in southeast Asia, this verse came alive in my heart. I feel like it beautifully encapsulates God’s heart for His children that face cruel injustices as a result of this fallen world. His promise that speaks of His goodness that is unfailing. His promise that speaks of a light stronger than the heaviest darkness. His promise of a love that will not leave, abandon, or forsake His children. We get to love and be loved by such a beautiful, promise-keeping God. We get to love and be loved by the only one who can truly bring beauty from the most scorned ashes.
