A perfect title for today. It’s okay to not be okay.
Today would have been Karen & Berg’s 3rd anniversary. Three years ago today, 8-8-08 we were sipping champagne preparing for her wedding ceremony. Today, a day of heartache for my dear friend, Berg died only months ago after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
A week ago, I drove to the beach to spend time with her. She is healing on the shores of a beautiful beach. Sitting still. We talked for hours. Knowing today was just around the corner.
Oh, how special days linger in our hearts with the sense of dread approaching that fills us with emptiness and pain.
Today, another dear friend has a loved one facing medical testing and a series of scans to determine if all the cancer was removed from surgery last week as pathology results come in from lymph nodes that were removed.
Hearts are not okay today and it is okay to not be okay.
an inspirational entry about not pretending
"Is everything ok, Al?" My twin sister asked. "You seem kinda blue."
My first instinct was to feign a smile and pretend like everything was just fine. But deep down, I really wasn't, though I couldn't really put my finger on why. All I knew was in that moment, I felt anxious about many things in my uncertain twenty-something life: what direction my career would take, where I would live, whether I would get that job I applied for, if I would ever fall in love with that "right" person, and much more. As I struggled to give my sister an honest answer, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, "It's okay to not be okay all the time."
It is okay...to not be okay.
Sometimes we think being a strong Christian means we have to be happy and cheerful all the time. While it is true that God gives us supernatural portions of joy when we know Him personally, there are times in life we will experience moments, days, even seasons of difficulty, pain, anguish, suffering and trials of many kinds. The Scriptures give us more than enough evidence of this fact: just read the Psalms, or study the lives of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Paul, Jesus or any other major figure in the Bible. They didn't live lives free from suffering or struggle, but they endured and persevered through them by the grace and strength of their God.
Here are a few things that can help us through our 'not okay' moments of life:
Pour our Heart out to God
Learn to be Vulnerable
Have the Courage to Cry.
Persevere through the Valley.
We all have times of feeling less than our best. But God doesn't want us to run away from it or shove it under the rug like its nothing. It is often in this 'not ok' place that God is doing a deeper work within us. He allows moments of moaning, groaning, suffering, struggling, trials and tears to achieve His higher purposes.
So let me say it one more time: It is okay to not be okay, today. May you have the willingness to pour your heart out to God, the humility to be vulnerable in front of your loved ones, the courage to cry a river of tears, the strength to persevere through the valley and the hope that God will bring you through!
