What a Difference a Day Makes

by Joanne Ellison

03.09.20

Good morning and welcome to Making Space Mondays! Many of you are part of our Drawing Near to God community and some are not. Please join us as we journey together to grow in Christ and live our lives fully engaged in making Him known.

I went for a walk today on the beach near Charleston SC, where this ministry is based. As I observed the magnificence of God’s creation, I thought of what a difference a day can make. Yesterday it was pouring rain, very cold, dreamy and frankly depressing. Today the sun is shining and it is warmer. The whole world looks cheerier and my mood is too.

We all have off days; days that we wish we had not gotten out of bed; days when nothing seems to go right or simply we are just not on top of our game. And that is ok. Life is not perfect and nether are we. As a Christian community, we all know that Jesus is the answer to everything and I mean everything— but sometimes those seem like words with no meaning.

What does it mean when your child is so sick and you have been up with him or her all night?

What does it mean when your best friend walks out of your life, or your spouse, or significant other?

What does it mean when your biological clock is ticking and your deepest desire is to have a family and you aren’t even dating?

Friends, life can throw some hard balls at us and simple answers do not seem so simple. As Christians we know that Jesus heals our hurts, has brought us out if the kingdom of darkness and into the light of His kingdom. But what if it doesn’t feel like it? In short, we all have bad days, and difficult seasons and sometimes we give into the place that feels good– that place I term my “pity pot”. I go sit on it to stew and to think about how discouraged I am. I don’t want to read my Bible or be told to press into Jesus. Right then I want my pity pot. It feeds my hurt.

So we all do this. But my thought for today is that the key is not to stay on that pot too long; not to allow our emotions to take us down so low that we cannot get up. The point is we all have our off days, but we must reach up for help. We need help from our safe friends (you know those people whom we trust to tell anything; masks off).

The Apostle Paul explained that we will all have days where we are angry, but he also told us not to let the sun go down on our anger. Same principle applies. Get up quickly and call someone who can help you with perspective– Godly perspective. And tomorrow? Tomorrow will be better.

What a difference a day can make when you have friends to help you up. I would love to hear your stories about how your friends encouraged you when things seemed to fall apart. Don’t be shy. Your stories will give us all hope.

We would love for you to join us at our Celebration Luncheon, March 26 – 10am, Seacoast Church, 750 Longpoint Road, Mt. Pleasant, SC. Come and see what the Lord has done through our study of Romans and Following the Call. Click Here to Register. Bring a friend!

Connect with us! https://drawingneartogod.com//