When Your World Turns Upside Down: the unexpected gift

My world has been turned upside down many times in my life. Some smaller flips; some monumental.

With each successful struggle, although incredibly difficult at the time, I’ve learned to lean in a little closer to Jesus. What a gift!

An Upside Down World

We live in a world that flips all too easy and often.

Financial problems, marital difficulties, health issues, difference of opinions, lack of understanding and compassion, uncooperative children… It all upsets the balance in our lives and sends us reeling.

About the time we get ourselves righted, a new burden pushes the scale over again. It’s easy to feel frustrated, if not altogether hopeless about it.

How are we to remain standing if we continually get bombarded by the next thing? How are we to manage life?

We’re not. At least not on our own.

The Gift of an Upside Down World

In a recently released book she authored with her husband Ken, author, speaker, and disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada (who happens to be a quadriplegic)  wrote, “It’s trials that really press you into the breast of your Savior” (Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story).

'It's trials that really press you into the breast of your Savior.' ~Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story Share on X

That, my friends, is the ultimate gift: to be sheltered in the bosom of our Lord. And that requires facing circumstances in our lives that are beyond our strength to handle.

The ultimate gift: to be sheltered in the bosom of our Lord. #pricelessgift #gainchrist Share on X

Our human nature is naturally one of self-reliance. Without being toppled from time to time by situations out of our control, we tend to hold onto that false sense of independence instead of acknowledging and submitting to the One we are all dependent on for life.

We can’t manage well on our own. And we’re not supposed to. 

Through the trials of quadriplegia, chronic pain and breast cancer, Joni and Ken learned that “suffering had been — and would continue to be — the thing God would use in their lives to draw them closer to Jesus.”

God has a purpose in allowing the suffering that we face, part of which is to draw us ever closer to Him. 

That is a priceless gift! 

God has a purpose in allowing the suffering that we face, part of which is to draw us ever closer to Him. Share on X

So when your world begins to flip, don’t give into despair. Instead seek the hand of Jesus. Let Him draw You near. 

“If we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:17

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:8

Reflections: What is your default reaction when life circumstances knock you down? Is it to give into despair and stay down? Is it to try to get back to your feet and shoulder on under your own strength? Or is it to shelter in the arms of Jesus before letting Him help you to your feet and continue the race?