It's in Those Hard Times ...

I was just reading something that brought me into reflection, and as I contemplate the depths of all that God has carried me through and brought me out of, I don't think I can express it any better than what Francesca Battistelli shared in an online interview when it comes to heartbreak, the storms that rage in the midst of life, and how God's presence and love rises above it all - what hope, comfort, and motivation to keep journeying, moving forward.

"There have been other times it's been broken, and each time has been deeper, more painful. But at the same time, my heart has become so much stronger and I have learned so much through the pain that heartbreak has caused. It's in the midst of suffering that God tenderizes and purifies our hearts ... As I'm thinking back on these hard moments in my life, I'm getting a bit choked up, but the tears that want to come are springing from an intense gratitude to the Lord for carrying me through each scary, awful, painful intersection of life. He has never stopped walking with me, whispering in my ear His words and songs of love. He has taken my precious, fragile, paper heart, and He has written His name on it. He has redeemed the pain and turned my mourning into dancing. He has used His friends to speak life and love to my heart, and He has never given it more than it can bear. He knows it inside and out. And for that, I cry tears of joy. Open your heart to Him, my friends. He will never leave you or forsake you. Of that you can be certain."

*Source: http://christianmusic.about.com/od/artistsaz/a/franscescaBTB.htm

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
- Ephesians 2:1-7 (ESV)