Set Your Eyes Higher - a 5 Day PlanSample

I had my son, Judah, in 2020. I found out I was pregnant right as the world went into lockdown and gave birth during one of the most severe peaks of the pandemic in California. I went to most of my doctor’s appointments alone. As we invited our first child into the world, I needed to be surrounded by community. But I was forced into isolation, left mostly to the internet to help me prepare.

Then, just like that, I was holding my newborn, totally in love. Yet almost immediately, I became terrified by the notion that anything bad could happen to him. I felt desperate. Panic gripped my chest so tightly I could hardly breathe.

Here’s the thing though—even with my panic, I was so happy. I could lose myself for hours studying Judah’s dimpled hands and holding him while he slept. I loved bringing him on walks to watch him take in his new world. I even loved that the pandemic-mandated quarantine granted my husband an extra three months at home with us.

How can we make peace with pain in this world and still embrace life’s joys? Godly wisdom makes space for both.

Colossians 2:9–10 says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (NIV). Other translations say, “In Him, you have been made complete” (NASB). Well, I don’t always feel full. I don’t feel complete. That’s not because Paul is lying, and it’s not because Jesus didn’t redeem all things on the cross. No, all of creation (including us!) has already been fully redeemed, and yet we will not see its fullness until Christ returns.

Mental illness, physical ailments, and loneliness are to be expected in a broken world, and that God’s grace can come in the form of professional help and authentic community. Wisdom, then, invites us into honest and emotional prayer, humbly pleading for God to change our circumstances, but not pridefully demanding it. The key to minimizing our anxiety is calibrating our expectations to living in an imperfect world and asking God to do a merciful work within it and through us.

Prayer

God, help me look to You in difficult times and become clear-eyed about facing hardship, knowing that the full realization of Your victory is yet to come. Amen.