Trial Road

There comes a time when we will have trials. It’s not a case of if, but when. To state the obvious, trials are not fun. Trials are a road we all have to go down. My daughter came home from school on the day of her overnight birthday party in tears. We thought maybe it was because we were teasing her about the disaster area her room had become and her friends were arriving in less than an hour. I finally understood, in between her sobbing, that the boy she liked had told her he didn’t like her anymore. She’s not allowed to date until she’s 30, possibly 40, so the relationship wasn’t much more than texting and sitting next to each other on the bus, but she still felt deeply hurt when her feelings for him were no longer returned.

As a mama bear, I wanted to give this kid a talking to for emotionally injuring my daughter, but after many lessons learned in my life with broken hearts, I decided to quietly pray for my daughter and wisdom on how to come alongside her instead of coming alongside of this boy and giving him a piece of my mind.

An amazing thing happened when I started to silently pray for my daughter’s heart and held her in my arms; her crying slowed down and my husband took both of us in his arms for one big bear hug. I wanted my daughter to feel open to talking to us and be open to allowing us to help her when she’s hurting.

I’m not a fan of the Bible verse,“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV Well, I’m a fan of the second part, but not the first part. It hurt my soul to see my daughter with her first broken heart and I believe God hurts along with us since He loves us more than I love my kids. He also brings people to come along us bringing encouragement.

What I thought was horrible timing for my daughter to have her heart-broken, turned out to be perfect timing for what she needed. Her closest friends arrived for her sleepover birthday party and spoke words of encouragement to ease her hurt. They giggled and whispered late into the night to keep a smile on her face until we dropped the last friend off Saturday evening.

Even when we have hurt, God is by our side. Yes, we will have trouble in this world, but God provides comfort in many forms and for me, it came in the form of teenagers spending the night with our family. Do you have examples of God providing just what you needed, right when you needed it? Share it in the comments below so we can celebrate with you and be encouraged by God’s provision.