I love this verse because it is what I truly hope to have accomplished in my life – although much of the time I am far from it!


For several months now, I have been on a mission to find a big beautiful rendition of this verse to hang on my wall. I have searched all over the World Wide Web and have come up with nothing but little photographs and word art. Finally I decided to just print out some of those things and frame them. I have enjoyed (is that the right word?) seeing those words in my house, being reminded of them every day.



I was thinking about a post that I wrote years ago when I first discovered that verse, and looked it up again yesterday. “I wouldn’t change a thing about that post,” I thought to myself, “except for the list.”



There are a whole lot of “Whatever Happens” going on in our world today, so I made a new list for right now:


If the whole world is turned upside down by a virus

If all of my daughters have to cancel their Graduation and Birthday parties

If I lose all my money in the stock market

If I get laid off, furloughed or have my hours cut at my job

If I cannot go to church

If I have to try to figure out what is going on with multiple teachers in multiple classes for multiple grades

If I cannot hang out with friends, go out to eat, go on the boat or go to the beach

If I cannot find essential items like eggs, flour and toilet paper at the grocery store

If I have to spend one more minute trapped in my house with my whole family when they all have cabin fever

If every time I look at Facebook or watch the news, I see something that makes me angry

If I go out in public, and people look at me with suspicion



And on and on and on…



The first Sunday that we had to miss church, our pastor preached from the book of Habakkuk. That week, I got out my Bible and re-read that obsure little book in it’s entirety. It could have been written for our time! The part that really meant the most to me was the last three verses of the entire book.







He names a lot of very bad "Even Ifs" that may have been happening in his time...

But then he gives us the key for how to endure it - how to "conduct [myself] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ"  through all of this.

It is simply this:
               
 Rejoicing in God

           Being thankful

                     Understanding that HE is the one who enables us to rise above everything -

                                   and tapping in to that strength.